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versity  of  Calij 
Southern  Regio 
Library  Facili 


MARGARET   OF   FRANCE 
DUCHESS   OF    SAVOY 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

FRENCH   NOVELISTS   OF  TO-DAY 
Crown  8vo 


ffffactnc     </e     ra»<ne' 


— — * 


^ataa^qfjfa&nae'  afou/  S3 65 


-■■i  a-  z&z&iMnO'C/ 


MARGARET 
OF  FRANCE 

DUCHESS   OF   SAVOY   1523-74 

A  BIOGRAPHY  BY  WINIFRED  STEPHENS 
WITH  A  PHOTOGRAVURE  FRONTISPIECE 
AND    SIXTEEN    OTHER    ILLUSTRATIONS 


"  Une  femme  eminente  par  sa  sagesse,  son  irreprochable 
vertu  et  l'energie  d'une  ame  vraiment  virile." — De  Thou. 


LONDON:    JOHN    LANE    THE    BODLEY    HEAD 
NEW  YORK:   JOHN  LANE  COMPANY    MCMXII 


WILLIAM    BKENDON    AND   SON,    LTD.,    PRINTERS,    PLYMOUTH 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSH  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PREFACE 

ENGLAND  has  ever  been  the  friend  of 
Italy  ;  and  before  Italy  existed,  save 
as  a  geographical  expression,  England 
was  the  friend  of  that  royal  house  of 
Savoy  which  has  rendered  a  united  Italy  possible. 
From  early  times  down  to  those  dark  and  more 
recent  days  when  in  Italy  "  but  to  think  was  to  be 
suspect,  to  speak  was  ruin  and  to  act  was  death/' 
the  sympathy  of  England,  expressed  in  manifold 
ways,  alike  by  poets  and  novelists,  by  statesmen 
and  diplomatists,  has  meant  much  to  Italy.  And, 
during  the  last  sixty  years,  many  a  link  has  been 
forged  in  "  the  golden  chain  "  which  unites  the  two 
countries.  To-day  to  utter  the  names  of  Lord 
John  Russell,  or  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  or  of  Mrs. 
Browning,  is  to  make  a  patriotic  Italian's  heart 
thrill  with  joy. 

England  has  followed  closely  the  history  of  the 
Italian  peninsula  during  the  last  sixty  years. 
Our  countrymen  were  filled  with  enthusiasm  by 
Cavour's  attempt  to  establish  in  Piedmont  parlia- 
mentary government  on  the  English  model. 
Eagerly  did  Englishmen  welcome  an  alliance  with 


Preface 

Piedmont  on  behalf  of  the  common  rights  of 
nations  during  the  Crimean  War.  On  Russian 
battle-fields  the  valour  displayed  by  the  Pied- 
montese  troops  aroused  the  admiration  of  our 
soldiers.  And,  when  Victor  Emmanuel  II  visited 
England,  in  December,  1855,  as  the  guest  of  Queen 
Victoria,  his  reception  was  no  less  enthusiastic 
and  no  less  magnificent  than  that  which  a  few 
months  earlier  had  been  accorded  to  the  Emperor 
of  the  French. 

In  i860,  Garibaldi's  British  legion,  the  seven 
hundred  officers  and  men  who  went  from  England 
to  fight  for  Italian  independence,  were  received  at 
Naples  with  transports  of  joy.  When  the  British 
soldiers  in  their  loose  red  tunics  were  seen  in 
Neapolitan  streets,  the  patriotic  fervour  of  the 
Italians  knew  no  bounds.  They  waved  flags 
and  showered  flowers  on  the  troops,  until  every 
man  had  his  rifle  begarlanded.  The  other  day, 
among  those  who  stood  proudly  by  at  the  un- 
veiling of  the  statue  of  Victor  Emmanuel  II,  the 
first  sovereign  of  United  Italy,  were  six  aged 
veterans,  the  only  survivors  of  that  British  legion, 
who  had  journeyed  all  the  way  from  London  *  to 
witness  that  auspicious  ceremony. 

English  appreciation  of  the  artistic  Italian 
temperament  and  of  the  inventive  Italian  mind  is 
reciprocated  in  Italy  by  a  sincere  admiration  of 
our    institutions,    which    expresses    itself    in    all 

1  They  started  from  Charing  Cross  on  the  ist  of  June,  191 1. 

vi 


Preface 

manner  of  ways,  incidentally  by  the  recent 
inauguration  of  the  boy-scout  movement  in  certain 
Italian  cities,  but  more  especially  in  the  respect 
for  British  constitutional  traditions  which  ani- 
mates the  methods  of  Italian  statesmen.  It  must 
have  sounded  strangely  familiar  to  those  of  our 
countrymen  who  listened  to  King  Humbert  on  the 
Capitol  last  March,  to  hear  the  King  declaring  as 
the  national  ideals  of  Italy — free  representation  in 
Parliament  and  in  municipal  assemblies,  tranquil 
harmony  between  Church  and  State,  freedom 
of  thought,  universal  peace  and  progress. 

At  a  time  when  the  services  rendered  to  the 
cause  of  Italian  freedom  by  England's  ancient 
ally,  the  royal  house  of  Savoy,  are  present  to 
every  mind,  when  Emmanuel  Philibert,  the  six- 
teenth century  founder  of  Savoyard  greatness  is 
being  especially  glorified, ]  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
recall  the  life-story  of  Emmanuel  Philibert's  gifted 
consort,  Margaret  of  France,  daughter  of  King 
Francis  I. 

Margaret  was  one  of  those  numerous  French 
princesses  to  whom  Savoy  and  Italy  owe  a  great 
debt  of  gratitude.  It  is  interesting  to  note  in 
passing  that  a  French  princess,  when  she  came 
to  Italy  as  the  bride  of  a  Duke  of  Savoy,  usually 
brought  blessings  in  her  hand,  whereas  an  Italian 
princess  going  to  France  as  the  bride  of  a  French 

1  See  Emanuele  Filiberto,  a  play,  written  by  Raffaele  Fiore 
and  acted  by  Salvini,  published  1911. 

vii 


Preface 

King  usually  carried  in   her   train  nothing  but 
disaster. 

But  let  not  my  readers  think  that  this  volume 
will  be  entirely  concerned  with  Italy.  Margaret 
of  France,  when  she  married  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
was  already  an  accomplished  woman  of  the  world, 
and  a  femme  savante,  honoured  in  her  own  country 
as  the  friend  of  poets  and  of  scholars.  I  shall 
therefore  have  much  to  say  of  her  life  in  France, 
and  of  that  most  brilliant  phase  of  the  French 
Renaissance  which  owed  so  much  to  her 
patronage. 

Moreover,  Margaret,  at  the  time  of  her  marriage, 
was  already  known  throughout  Europe  as  the 
protectress  of  the  Huguenots.  And  the  persecuted 
Protestants  of  Piedmont  expected  great  things 
from  her  coming  among  them.  Their  hopes  were 
not  disappointed.  For  to  Margaret  was  it  given 
to  still  the  strife  of  religious  warfare  in  her  adopted 
land,  and  in  France  to  rescue  from  Catholic  daggers 
at  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  one  of  the 
choicest  spirits  of  the  age,  her  some-time  Chan- 
cellor, Michel  de  1'  Hospital. 

In  the  words  of  that  famous  Chancellor,  Mar- 
garet, as  Duchess  of  Savoy,  drew  the  eyes  of 
Europe  upon  her.  For  her  marriage  with  Em- 
manuel Philibert,  arranged  by  the  Treaty  of 
Cateau-Cambresis,  made  her  the  mediator  between 
the  great  powers  of  France  and  Spain.  It  would 
hardly  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  she  held 

viii 


Preface 

the  peace  of  Europe  in  her  hand.  And  we  may 
safely  assert  that,  largely  owing  to  her  influence, 
the  complicated  terms  of  the  Cateau-Cambresis 
Treaty,  though  bristling  with  difficulties,  were 
executed  without  bloodshed. 

Yet,  among  her  multifarious  and  cosmopolitan 
cares,  the  interests  of  her  husband's  land  were 
never  absent  from  Margaret's  mind,  and  so 
strenuously  did  she  strive  to  further  them  that 
she  might  appropriately  have  adopted  as  her 
motto  the  cry  of  another  Savoyard  princess,  a 
later  Margaret,1  Sempre  avanti  Savoia. 

"  You  shall  not  tell  me  by  languages  and  titles 
a  catalogue  of  the  volumes  you  have  read,  you 
shall  make  me  feel  what  periods  you  have  lived," 
wrote  Emerson. 

And  such  must  be  the  aspiration  of  all  who 
attempt  to  record  history.  How  near  this  work 
approaches  to  that  high  standard  I  must  leave  my 
readers  to  judge.  Suffice  it  to  say  that,  in  order  to 
breathe  the  atmosphere  of  Margaret's  time,  I 
have  studied  contemporary  letters  and  records,  I 
have  gazed  upon  pictures  and  portraits  of  the 
day,  I  have  visited  cities  and  palaces  wherein 
Margaret  dwelt. 

In  writing  this  book  I  have  received  valuable 
help  from  experts  to  whom  it  is  a  pleasure  to  take 

1  The  present  Queen  Dowager  of  Italy,  who,  in  danger  of 
shipwreck,  on  a  voyage  to  Sicily,  is  said  to  have  encouraged  the 
distracted  captain  with  the  cry  Sempre  avanti  Savoia. 

ix 


Preface 

this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  thanks  :  to 
Miss  Constance  White,  whose  name  occurs  in  the 
notes  to  this  volume  ;  to  M.  de  La  Ronciere, 
Superintendent  of  printed  books  in  the  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale,  to  M.  Pierre  Champion,  Archi- 
viste  Paleographe,  and  to  Signor  Buraggi,  Keeper 
of  the  Archivio  di  Stato  at  Turin. 

Before  closing  this  preface  it  may  be  well  to 
give  a  few  words  of  explanation  as  to  the  spelling 
of  proper  names.  In  a  work  of  this  description  to 
adopt  any  hard  and  fast  rule,  to  consistently 
write  all  foreign  names  in  the  foreign  manner, 
or  all  foreign  names  in  English,  is  difficult.  There 
is  a  danger  that  the  invariable  adherence  to  the 
latter  rule,  which  may  involve  the  writer  in  the 
translation,  for  example,  of  Louis  into  Lewis,  may 
offend  the  eye  or  jar  the  ear  of  an  English  reader. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  constant  use  of  certain 
foreign  names,  that  of  "  Marguerite "  or  of 
Emmanuele  Filiberto  for  example,  might  strike 
a  discordant  note.  Even  Froude,  who  does  not 
usually  translate  foreign  names,  forbears  to  use 
that  of  "  Marguerite,"  and  we  find  him  writing, 
"  Margaret,  Duchess  of  Parma,"  "  Margaret, 
Princess  of  France."  For  the  heroine  of  this  bio- 
graphy— as  well  as  for  her  aunt  and  her  niece, 
Froude's  example  has  been  followed.  For  Mar- 
garet's father,  so  well  known  among  us  as  "  King 
Francis  I,"  and  for  Philip  II,  who  was  once  the 
King  of  this  realm,  the  English  form  has  likewise 


Preface 

been  employed.  The  numerous  Henries  who  enter 
these  pages  have  been  described  as  "  Henry," 
because  in  the  sixteenth  century  that  English  form 
happened  to  be  also  the  French.  But  foreign 
names  will  usually  be  found  written  in  the  foreign 
manner. 

WINIFRED   STEPHENS 

London,  1911 


XI 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chronological  Table         .......      xxi 

Introduction  .........  xxvii 

CHAPTER    I 

MARGARET   AND    HER    FAMILY    CIRCLE 

Birth  and  Baptism  of  Margaret  —  Her  Parents  —  Her 
Mother's  death — Her  Father's  Imprisonment — Her 
Aunt,  Margaret  of  Angouleme — Childhood  on  the  Loire — 
Imprisonment  of  the  French  Princes  in  Spain — Their 
Return  to  France  with  Queen  Eleonore — Margaret's 
friend,  Le  Beau  Brissac      ......         3 

CHAPTER    II 

EARLY    INFLUENCES 

The  Coming  to  France  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  and  Mar- 
garet's Affection  for  her — Their  education  together — The 
Moral  Atmosphere  of  the  Court — The  Death  of  the 
Dauphin — Sickness  at  Fontainebleau — An  Autumn 
Party  at  Chatillon-sur-Loing       .....        30 

CHAPTER    III 

LOVE    AND    MARRIAGE    IN    THE    FAMILY    OF    KING    FRANCIS 

The  great  matches  of  the  sixteenth  century — James  V  of 
Scotland  and  the  daughters  of  King  Francis — James's 
Marriage  with  Margaret's  sister,  Madeleine — The  Death 
of  Madeleine — Matrimonial  Schemes  for  Margaret — 
Charles  V's  Visit  to  France — The  Death  of  Francis  I     .       53 

xiii 


Contents 


CHAPTER    IV 

MARGARET  AT  THE  COURT  OF  HENRY  II 


PAGE 


Margaret's  Household — The  Duel  between  Jarnac  and  La 
Chataigneraie — Moulins  and  Lyon — Marriage  of  Jeanne 
d'Albret — Death  of  the  first  Margaret        .  .  .72 

CHAPTER    V 

A    CAUSE    CELEBRE 

The  Defendant,  Jacques  de  Savoie,  Due  de  Nemours — The 
Plaintiff,  Francoise  de  Rohan,  Dame  de  Garnache — The 
Wooing  of  Francoise — Nemours'  Treachery  in  Italy — 
The  Ball  at  Blois — Catherine's  Warning — Margaret's 
Intervention — A  Kiss  in  the  name  of  Marriage — The 
Ordeal — Flight  of  Francoise — Birth  of  Henri  de  Savoie 
— Thirty-four  Years  of  Litigation — Margaret's  Evidence 
— The  Agreement  of  1577 — Last  Years  of  Francoise — 
Death  of  Jacques  de  Nemours.       .         .         .         .  91 

CHAPTER    VI 

MARGARET    AND    MEN    OF   LETTERS 

Margaret  the  Pallas  Athene  of  the  Pleiade — Her  Protection 
of  Ronsard  and  the  Poet's  Gratitude — The  Salon  in  La 
Rue  St.  Andre-des-Arcs — Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite  de 
Valois         ...  .  .  .  .  .  .109 

CHAPTER    VII 

THE    ROMANCE    OF    JOACHIM    DU    BELLAY 

Margaret  at  Les  Tournelles  in  1549 — Morel  presents  her 
with  Du  Bellay's  Works,  La  Defence  and  VOlive — Was 
l'Olive  Margaret  ? — Margaret's  Kindness  dispels  the 
Poet's  Melancholy — The  Gift  of  a  Handkerchief — Du 
Bellay  in  Rome — Les  Regrets — His  grief  at  Margaret's 
Departure  from  France — His  early  Death,  1560     .  .126 

xiv 


Contents 


CHAPTER    VIII 

MARGARET,  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 


PAGB 


Margaret's  Gift  for  Government — Her  Salon  at  Bourges 

The   University— Her   Disputes   with   the  Mayor  and 

Aldermen — Her  Attempts  to  revive  the  Woollen  Industry 

of  Bourges IJ5 


CHAPTER    IX 

COURTSHIP EMMANUEL    PHILIBERT 

Margaret's  views  as  to  a  Husband — Proposals  to  marry  her 
to  Alessandro  Farnese  and  to  Philip  of  Spain — The 
Savoy  Alliance  first  proposed  in  1526 — Proposal  renewed 
in  1538— Did  Margaret  and  Emmanuel  Philibert  then 
fall  in  love  ? — Alliance  refused  as  not  good  enough  for 
Margaret — The  Fortunes  of  the  House  of  Savoy — Early 
life  of  Emmanuel  Philibert — He  commands  the  Forces 
of  Spain — Renewed  Proposals  for  his  Marriage  with 
Margaret,  1550-1557— The  Battle  of  St.  Quentin,  1557     145 


CHAPTERS  X 


BETROTHAL  AND  THE  TREATY  OF  CATEAU-CAMBRESIS 

St.  Q>nentin  and  the  fortunes  of  Emmanuel  Philibert — Ne- 
gotiations in  the  Abbey  of  Cercamp — The  Duke  of 
Savoy  proposes  for  Margaret's  niece,  Claude — But  ac- 
cepts Margaret,  who  is  offered  to  him  by  the  Constable 
— Negotiations  at  Cateau-Cambresis — The  Constable's 
joy  at  obtaining  a  husband  for  Margaret — Margaret's 
assumption  of  the  role  of  diplomatist — Unpopularity 
of  the  match  in  France  and  in  Piedmont      .  .  .174 

b  xv 


Contents 

CHAPTER    XI 

A     SAD     WEDDING 

PAGE 

The  Bridegroom's  Departure  from  Brussels  for  Paris — 
Signing  of  the  Marriage  Contract  at  Les  Tournelles — 
The  formal  Betrothal  and  Preparations  for  the  Wedding 
— Margaret's  Trousseau — The  Tournament  and  the 
Wounding  of  King  Henry — The  Art  of  Surgery  in  the 
sixteenth  century — Margaret's  midnight  Wedding — The 
King's  Death  .  .  .  .  .  .  .190 

CHAPTER    XII 

Margaret's  departure  for  savoy  and  arrival 

AT    NICE 

A  brief  Honeymoon — Five  weeks  of  Mourning — Illness 
of  the  Duke  of  Savoy — The  Coronation  of  Francis  II— 
Return  of  Emmanuel  Philibert  to  Savoy — Margaret  at 
Paris  and  Blois — Her  Parting  with  Queen  Catherine — 
Her  Departure  for  Savoy,  escorted  by  Michel  de  1' Hos- 
pital— Her  Reception  at  Lyon — Her  Arrival  at  Marseille 
— Meeting  between  the  Duke  and  Duchess — Festivities 
at  Nice — Descent  of  the  Corsair  Occhiali — Margaret  as 
executrix  of  Jean  de  la  Vigne,  French  Ambassador  at 
Constantinople  .......     206 

CHAPTER    XIII 

MARRIAGE    AND    MOTHERHOOD 

Margaret's    Illness — Correspondence   with   Catherine — The 
Birth  of  Charles  Emmanuel — His  Education  and  Up- 
bringing— The  Duke's  Illness  and  Margaret's  Govern- 
ment of  his  Principality — The  Duke  as  a  Husband — 
Margaret's  magnanimity     ......     228 

xvi 


Contents 

CHAPTER    XIV 

THE    HIGHER    POLITICS 

PAGE 

Margaret's  difficulties  as  Duchess  of  Savoy — The  Question 
of  the  French  Fortresses  in  Piedmont — The  French  retire 
from  four  fortresses — Entrance  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
into  their  capital      .......     246 

CHAPTER    XV 

MARGARET   AND    THE    PROTESTANTS 

Margaret's  Religion — Was  she  a  Protestant  ? — Her  Protec- 
tion of  the  Waldenses — The  Treaty  of  Lausanne — Her 
Intervention  in  the  French  Wars  of  Religion — She  visits 
the  Court  at  Lyon — The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew   .     257 

CHAPTER    XVI 

LAST   YEARS 

Margaret's  Liberality — Her  protection  of  Art  and  Learning 
in  Savoy — French  Visitors  at  Turin — Paul  de  Foix 
and  Henry  III  of  France — Henry's  cession  of  the  last 
fortresses  held  by  the  French  in  Piedmont — The  Rebel, 
Damville,  at  Turin — Sickness  in  the  royal  palace — 
Margaret's  last  letters  and  Death — The  Policy  of  Savoy 
after   her   death       .......     283 

APPENDICES 

A.  Two  of  Margaret's  Autograph  Letters  .         .  .319 

B.  The  Seymour  Sisters,  Authoresses  of   Le  Tombeau  de 

Marguerite  de  Valois        .  .  .  .  .  -323 

C.  Nicolas  Denisot,  Editor  of  Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite 

de  Valois 332 

D.  Letter  showing  the  part  played  by    Margaret  in  the 

pacification  of  the  Waldenses  .  .  .  .  -339 

Bibliography 34 1 

lNDEX 353 

xvii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Margaret  of  Valois,  Daughter  of  Francis  I       .  Frontispiece 

After  a  portrait  of  the  Clouet  school  at  Chantilly. 

_  _  __  FACING  PAGE 

The  Three  Margarets  .  .  .  ...  xxvii 

Portrait  by  Corneille  de  Lyon,  said  to  represent  Queen 
Claude  .  .  .  .  ...        5 

Charles  de  Cosse,  Marechal  de  Brissac  .  .        .      26 

From  a  drawing  by  Francois  Clouet  at  Chantilly. 

The  Dauphin  Francois,  Brother  of  Margaret  of  France   .      47 

From  a  portrait  by  Corneille  de  Lyon  at  Chantilly. 


King  Henry  II  of  France 

From  a  portrait  by  Francois  Clouet  in  the  Louvre,  Paris. 


72 


Margaret  of  France  in  1548      .  .  ...      86 

From  a  painting  by  Corneille  de  Lyon  at  Versailles. 

A  Woodcut  representing  Margaret  of  Angouleme       .        .      90 

The  frontispiece  of  Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite  de  Valois. 

Jacques  de  Savoie,  Due  de  Nemours,  about  1560  .        .     102 

From  a  portrait  of  the  Clouet  school  at  Chantilly. 

Margaret  of  France  as  Pallas  Athene  .  .        .110 

From  a  Limoges  Enamel,  signed  "  Jehan  de  Court,"  in  the  Wallace 
Collection. 

Title-page  of  "Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite  de  Valois"       .     121 
Charles  III,  Duke  of  Savoy,  Father  of  Emmanuel  Philibert    147 

From  a  portrait  attributed  to  Jean  Clouet  in  the  Pinacoteca  at  Turin. 

Emmanuel  Philibert  in  infancy,  depicted  as  a  Cardinal    .     157 

From  a  painting  in  the  Pinacoteca  at  Turin. 

Margaret  of  Valois  at  about  the  age  of  Three  .        .     194 

From  a  crayon  by  Francois  Clouet  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale. 

xix 


Illustrations 


FACING  PAGE 

Charles  Emmanuel,  Son  of  Margaret  of  France,  with  his 

Dwarf         .  .  ....     237 

From  a  painting  in  the  Pinacoteca  at  Turin. 

Anne  de  Montmorency  .  .  ...    279 

From  a  Clouet  drawing  at  Chantilly. 

Emmanuel  Philibert      .  .  .  ...     294 

From  a  painting  by  Giacomo  Vighi  (l'Argento)  in  the  Pinacoteca  at  Turin. 


XX 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE 

1523.  Margaret  of  France  born  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye. 

1524.  Death  of  Queen  Claude,  Margaret's  mother. 
Death  of  Princess  Charlotte,  Margaret's  sister. 

1525.  The  Battle  of  Pa  via  and  Francis  I  taken  prisoner. 
Death  of  the  Duke  of  Alencon,  husband  of  Margaret's  aunt, 

Margaret  of  Angouleme. 

1526.  The  Treaty  of  Madrid.    Francis  I,  released  from  captivity, 

returns  to  France.  His  place  in  prison  taken  by  his 
sons,  the  Dauphin  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Rejection 
of  the  proposal  made  by  Charles  III,  Duke  of  Savoy,  to 
marry  Margaret  to  his  son  Louis,  Prince  of  Piedmont. 

1527.  Marriage  of  the  Duchess  of  Alencon  with  Henry  d'Albret, 

King  of  Navarre. 

1527.  War  between  Francis  I  and  the  Emperor,  Charles  V. 

1528.  Birth  of  Emmanuel  Philibert,  afterwards  Duke  of  Savoy. 

1529.  "  The  Peace  of  the  Ladies  "  signed  at  Cambray. 

1530.  Release  and  return  of  the  French  princes  to  France. 
Marriage  of  Francis   I   with   Eleonore  of  Portugal,   the 

Emperor's  sister. 
1533.     Marriage  of   Henry,  Duke  of  Orleans,  with  Catherine   de 
Medicis. 

1536.  Sudden  death  of  the  Dauphin  at  Tournon. 
The  Emperor  invades  Provence. 

The  French  conquest  of  Piedmont. 
James  V  of  Scotland  visits  France. 

1537.  His  marriage  with  Margaret's  sister,  Madeleine. 
Madeleine's  departure  for  Scotland. 

Her  death. 

Margaret's  illness  at  Fontainebleau. 

Montmorency's  campaign  in  Piedmont. 

Francis  I  signs  the  Truce  of  Moncon  with  the  Emperor. 

1538.  Death  of  Beatrice,  Duchess  of  Savoy. 

Meeting  of  Francis  I  and  the  Emperor  Charles  V  at  Nice 
and  abortive  negotiations  for  Margaret's  marriage 
with  Emmanuel  Philibert,  Prince  of  Piedmont. 

xxi 


Chronological  Table 

1538.  Proposal  to  marry  Margaret  to  Philip  of  Spain,  afterwards 

Philip  II. 

1539.  Proposal,   emanating  from  France,   to  marry  Margaret 

to  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
The  Emperor's  visit  to  France. 

1 540.  Margaret's  friend,  the  Constable,  Anne  de  Montmorency, 

withdraws  from  court. 
Renewed  war  with  the  Emperor. 

1543.  Margaret's    rejection    of   the    suit   of    Antoine,  Duke  of 

Vendome,  afterwards  King  of  Navarre. 
Marriage  of  Philip  II  with  Mary  of  Portugal. 

1 544.  The  Peace  of  Crepy. 

1545.  Death    of    Margaret's    youngest  brother,  Charles,   Duke 

of  Orleans. 

1 547.  Death  of  Francis  I. 

Accession  of  Margaret's  brother,  Henry  II. 

The  duel  between  Jarnac  and  La  Chateigneraie. 

Further   abortive   negotiations   for   Margaret's   marriage 

with  Prince  Philip. 
Cardinal   Alessandro   Farnese  solicits   Margaret's   hand, 

but  is  rejected. 

1548.  Margaret,  accompanying  the  court  on  a  royal  progress, 

visits  Moulins  and  Lyon.     The  wedding  of  Jeanne 
d'Albret  and  Antoine,  duke  of  Vendome. 

1549.  The  death  of  Margaret  of  Angouleme. 

Margaret  of  France  takes  Ronsard  and  the  new  poets 

under  her  protection. 
Margaret  comes  to  Paris  for  the  King's  state  entry  into 

his  capital. 
Joachim  du  Bellay  is  presented  to  her. 

1550.  Margaret  becomes  Duchess  of  Berry. 

She  appoints  Michel  de  l'Hospital  her  Chancellor. 
Appearance  of  Ronsard 's  Odes  dedicated  to  Margaret. 
Presentation  to  Margaret  of  Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite, 
de  Valois  containing  Latin  verses  by  three  English 
maidens. 
The  Marechal  de'Brissac  is  appointed  Governor  of  Pied- 
mont. 
1552.     Renewal  of  the  French  War  with  the  Emperor. 
Illness  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  at  Joinville. 
Renewed   proposal   for   the   marriage   of   Margaret  and 
"Emmanuel  Philibert. 
xxii 


Chronological  Table 


1552.  Emmanuel  Philibert,  in  the  army  of  Ferdinand  Gonzaga, 

at  the  siege  of  Bena,  first  serves  against  France. 

1553.  Commanding  in  the  army  of  the  Seigneur  de  Bugnicourt, 

Emmanuel  Philibert  contributes  to  the  capture  of 

Terouenne. 
His  appointment  as  commander  of  the  imperial  forces  in 

Flanders. 
He  takes  Hesdin. 
Death  of  his  father,  Charles  III,  Duke  of  Savoy. 

1554.  Margaret  rejects  the  suit  of  Emmanuel  Philibert,   now 

Duke  of  Savoy. 
Abortive   negotiations   for   the   marriage   of   Emmanuel 

Philibert  with  Princess  Elizabeth  of  England. 
His  visit  to  England. 
His  victorious  campaigns  in  the  Netherlands. 

1556.  Truce  of  Vaucelles. 

Nicolas  Denisot's  Mission  to  Calais. 

1557.  Renewal  of  War. 
Siege  of  St.  Quentin. 
Battle  of  St.  Quentin. 
Imprisonment  of  the  Constable. 
Margaret  falls  ill  of  the  whooping-cough. 

Birth  of  Henry  de  Savoie,  son  of  Francoise  de  Rohan. 

1558.  The  taking  of  Calais  by  the  Duke  of  Guise. 
Margaret  with  the  King  and  Queen  go  to  Beauvais. 
Meeting   of   plenipotentiaries  at   Cercamp  to  negotiate 

a  treaty. 
Emmanuel  Philibert  proposes  to  marry  Margaret's  niece. 

Princess  Claude. 
The  French  reject  the  proposal,  and  offer  Margaret. 
The  Duke  of  Savoy  accepts  the  offer. 
Liberation  of  the  Constable. 
Marriage   of   Mary,    Queen   of   Scots,    to   the    Dauphin 

Francis,  Margaret's  nephew. 

1559.  Marriage  of  Princess  Claude  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine. 
The    Treaty  of    Cateau  -  Cambresis    finally  settles    that 

Margaret  shall  marry  Emmanuel  Philibert,  and  that 

he  shall  be  restored  to  his  dominions. 
The  Duke  of  Savoy's  arrival  in  Paris. 
Marriage   of   Princess    Elizabeth   of   France,    Margaret's 

niece,  with  Philip  II  of  Spain,  the  Duke  of  Alva  acting 

as  proxy. 

xxiii 


Chronological  Table 


1559.-    Signing  of  Margaret's  marriage  contract  at  Les  Tournelles. 
Her  betrothal. 
The  wounding  of  King  Henry  at  the  tournament  in  the 

Rue  St.   Antoine. 
Margaret's  hurried  wedding. 
Henry's  death. 

Departure  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  for  Flanders. 
Margaret's  mourning  at  St.  Germain. 
She  gives  evidence  on  behalf  of  the  Duke  of  Nemours  in 

a  suit  brought  against  him  by  Francoise  de  Rohan. 
Return  to  France  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 
His  illness  at  Villers-Cotterets. 
Coronation  of  Francis  II. 
The  Duke's  return  to  Savoy. 
Margaret  in  Paris. 

Her  departure  for  Nice  with  Michel  de  1' Hospital. 
The  death  of  Margaret's  friend,  Jean  de  la  Vigne,  French 

Ambassador  at  Constantinople. 

1560.  The  Death  of  Joachim  du  Bellay. 
Margaret's  arrival  at  Nice. 

She  receives  a  deputation  from  the  Waldenses,  the  Pro- 
testants of  Piedmont. 

Descent  of  the  Corsair,  "  Occhiali,"  on  the  port  of  Ville- 
franche. 

The  Marechal  de  Brissac  is  succeeded  by  the  Seigneur  de 
Bordillon  as  Governor  of  the  French  fortresses  ni 
Piedmont. 

The  Duke's  illness. 

Margaret's  illness. 

Departure  of  Michel  de  l'Hospital  for  the  French  court. 

His  appointment  as  Chancellor  of  France. 

The  Conspiracy  of  Amboise. 

Death  of  Francis  II  and  accession  of  Charles  IX. 

1561.  The  astrologer,  Nostradamus,  visits  Margaret  at  Vercelli 

in  order  to  prophesy  the  sex  of  her  expected  child. 
Expeditions  against  the  Waldenses. 

Death  of  Margaret's  friend,  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier. 
A   council   held   at   Lyon   to   discuss  the  rival  claims  of 

Emmanuel  Philibert  and  France  to  territory  in  Savoy 

and  in  Piedmont. 
The  Treaty  of  Cavour  signed  between  the  Duke  of  Savoy 

and  the  Waldenses. 

xxiv 


Chronological  Table 


1562.  The  birth  of  Margaret's  son,  Charles  Emmanuel. 
Outbreak  of  religious  war  in  France. 

The  siege  of  Bourges. 

The  death  of  Antoine  de  Vendome  of  wounds  received 
at  the  siege  of  Rouen. 

Emmanuel  Philibert  sends  troops  to  aid  the  Catholics  in 
France. 

Visit  of  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  and  the  Bishop  of  Orleans 
to  Piedmont. 

Surrender  to  Savoy  of  Turin,  Villanuova  d'Asti,  Chieri 
and  Chivasso,  towns  held  by  the  French  according  to 
the  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis.  France  takes  in- 
stead Perusia  and  Savigliano. 

The  Duke  and  Duchess  make  their  state  entry  into  their 
capital. 

1563.  The  Constable,  Anne  de  Montmorency,  is  taken  prisoner 

at  the  Battle  of  Dreux. 
Assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Guise. 
The  Peace  of  Amboise. 
Serious  illness  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  at  Rivoli. 

1564.  Treaty  of  Lausanne  signed  between  Savoy  and  the  Swiss 

Protestants. 
The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Savoy  visit  the  French  court  at 
Lyon. 

1565.  Renewal  of  Civil  War  in  France. 

1566.  The  first  sentence  is  pronounced  against  Francoise  de 

Rohan. 
Her  former  lover,  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  marries  Anne 

d'Este,  the  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Guise. 
Re-opening  of  the  University  at  Turin,  which  had  been 

closed  during  the  French  occupation. 

1567.  Death  of  the  Constable  through  wounds  received  at  the 

Battle  of  St.  Denis. 
Baptism  of  Margaret's  son,  Charles  Emmanuel. 

1568.  The  Peace  of  Longjumeau  between  Catholics  and  Hugue- 

nots in  France. 
Michel  de  l'Hospital  is  dismissed  from  office. 

1569.  Civil  war  breaks  out  again. 

Henry,  Duke  of  Anjou,  afterwards  Henry  III,  defeats  the 
Huguenots  at  Jarnac  and  at  Moncontour. 
1572.     Assassination  of  Margaret's  friend,  Gaspard  de  Coligny, 
Admiral  of  France. 

XXV 


Chronological  Table 


1572.  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

1573.  The  ambassador,  Paul  de  Foix  and  other  French  gentlemen 

visit  Margaret  at  Turin. 
Illness  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 

1574.  Death  of  Margaret's  nephew,  Charles  IX,  King  of  France. 
His  brother,  King  Henry  III,  visits  Turin,  on  his  way  home 

from  Poland. 
His  negotiations  with  Damville,  the  rebellious  Governor 

of  Languedoc  and  the  leader  of  Les  Politiques. 
Illness  of  the  Duke  and  of  his  son. 
Departure  for  France  of  Henry  III,  who  is  accompanied 

by  the  Duke. 
Attack   made   upon   the    King   by    the    Protestants   of 

Dauphine. 
Damville,  with  the  connivance  of  the  Duchess,  escapes 

from  Turin. 
Henry  and  the  Duke  enter  Lyon. 
Margaret's  illness  and  death. 
The  Duke's  return  to  Turin. 
Margaret's  funeral. 
The   Treaty   of   Turin   and   the   French   evacuation   of 

Piedmont. 
1575.    The  Spanish  evacuation  of  Piedmont. 
1580.     Death  of  Emmanuel  Philibert  and  accession  of  Margaret's 

son,  Charles  Emmanuel. 


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INTRODUCTION 

"  Three  royal  Margarets,  much  praised  pearls  of  three 
succeeding  generations." — Walter  Pater. 

LOOKING  back  on  the  sixteenth  century 
one  sees  how  striking  a  change  was 
j  wrought  in  the  position  of  woman  by 
the  ideas  of  the  Renaissance.  In  the 
Middle  Age  men  and  women  had  lived  their  lives 
apart.  Mediaeval  man  had  placed  woman  on  a 
pedestal,  an  idol  whom  he  affected  to  worship  from 
afar,  or  he  had  trodden  her  underfoot,  a  chattel 
for  domestic  drudgery.  As  the  Middle  Age  merged 
into  the  Renaissance,  women  descended  from 
their  pedestals  or  rose  from  their  servility  to  take 
their  places  by  the  side  of  men.  In  wellnigh 
every  department  of  life,  from  the  schoolroom, 
where  boys  and  girls  studied  together,  even  to  the 
battle-field x  whereon  men  and  women  fought 
side  by  side  as  comrades-in-arms,  the  sexes 
worked  in  double  harness. 
Michelet  has  called  women  "  the  fateful  queen 

1  Catherine  Segurana  at  the  siege  of  Nice,  in  1543.  The 
famous  French  poetess,  Louise  Labe,  at  the  siege  of  Perpignan, 
in  1541. 


xxvn 


Introduction 

of  the  sixteenth  century."  Civilising,  ripening, 
corrupting,  she  dominated  the  age.  Palaces  and 
statues  arose  in  her  honour.  Literature  resounded 
with  her  praise  or  her  blame.  As  mediaeval  and 
monkish  ideals  gave  place  to  ideals  of  the  Re- 
naissance, men  disputed  over  the  sphere  of  woman. 
Should  she  be  admitted  to  social  intercourse  ? 
"  Nay,"  said  Erasmus.  "  It  behoveth  women  and 
children  to  keep  silence."  But  Erasmus  was  a 
northerner.  In  the  south,  women  "flashed  it" 
with  men  •  in  Italy  women  bravely  held  their 
own  in  conversation.  Castiglione  made  Emilia 
Pia  preside  over  those  brilliant  symposia  he  de- 
scribes in  //  Cortegiano.  For  women,  said  the 
Italian,  "  do  not  stay  our  wittes,  but  rather 
quicken  them." 

Should  women  be  permitted  to  govern  the 
state  was  another  subject  of  contention  in  a 
century  when  almost  every  state  in  Western 
Europe  was  at  one  time  or  other  subject  to  a 
woman. 

"  What  can  be  expected  from  a  country 
governed  by  a  Queen  ?  "  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
wrote  the  Spanish  ambassador  in  England  to  his 
master,  King  Philip  II.  On  such  women  as  sit 
"  crowned  in  parliament  amongst  the  middest  of 
men,"  John  Knox  predicted  that  horrible  ven- 
geance would  fall.  And  there  were  many  who 
thought  with  him,  and  were  deeply  pained  to 
see    "  man    yielding    obedience    to    woman,    the 

xxviii 


Introduction 

learned    to    the    ignorant,    the    valiant    to    the 
cowardly."  ' 

That  famous  collection  of  stories,  entitled  the 
Heptameron  and  attributed  to  Margaret  of  An- 
gouleme,  is  little  more  than  a  battle  of  the  sexes. 
Ladies  and  gentlemen  on  their  way  home  from  a 
spa,  detained  in  a  French  Abbey  by  the  floods, 
pass  their  time  in  telling  tales,  the  women  against 
the  men  and  the  men  against  the  women.  The 
men  with  perfect  frankness  state  their  opinions  of 
woman  and  her  sphere.  "Ever  since  Eve  caused 
Adam  to  sin,  all  women  have  done  nothing  but  ruin 
and  torment  men,"  is  the  opinion  of  one  gentleman 
of  the  party.  Another,  anticipating  Sir  Thomas 
Browne,  who  in  the  next  century  was  to  maintain 
that  woman  is  but  "  the  rib  and  crooked  piece  of 
man,"  holds  that  woman  was  created  for  man 
alone.  While  yet  another,  in  words  too  significant 
not  to  be  quoted  here,  sums  up  the  Renaissance 
man's  behaviour  towards  the  Renaissance  woman.2 
"  When  our  mistresses,"  he  says,  "  keep  state  in 
hall  and  parlour,  seated  at  their  ease  as  if  they 
were  our  judges,  then  we  fall  on  our  knees  before 
them.  When,  in  awe  we  lead  them  out  to  dance, 
then  we  serve  them  so  diligently  as  to  anticipate 
their  every  wish.  But,  when  we  are  alone  to- 
gether, then  is  love  the  only  judge  of  our  coun- 

1  The  satirist  Jean  de  la  Taille  in  Le  Courtisan  Retire  (CEuvres, 
Rene  de  Maulde,  1879  (III,  p.  xxvi). 

2  See  the  conclusion  of  Tale  X.     _ 

xxix 


Introduction 

tenances,  then  know  we  full  well  that  they  are 
women  and  we  men,  then  are  the  titles  of  '  mis- 
tress '  and  '  servant  '  (serviteur)  1  exchanged  for 
the  common  title  of  '  friend.'  " 

Two  authors 2  of  the  Renaissance  in  their 
writings  waged  a  veritable  war  of  the  sexes  :  one, 
as  a  warning  to  young  men  about  to  marry,  nar- 
rated the  misdoings  of  the  worst  women  in  fiction 
and  in  history  ;  the  other  replied  by  extolling 
the  noble  deeds  of  their  virtuous  sisters.  But 
woman's  bravest  champion  in  this  century  was 
the  Orientalist,  Guillaume  Postel,3  who  main- 
tained that  the  world  should  not  see  redemption 
until  the  advent  of  a  feminine  Messiah.  So  ardent 
was  Postel's  advocacy  of  women's  claims  that  men, 
trembling  for  their  privileges,  accused  him  of  having 
lost  his  wits,  and  shut  him  up  in  a  mad-house. 

La  France  est  femme,  writes  a  modern  French 
novelist ;  and  so  it  was  not  unnaturally  in  France 

1  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  term  serviteur  frequently  meant 
"  admirer." 

2  Gratian  Dupont,  Seigneur  de  Drusac,  author  of  Le  Con- 
troverse  des  Sexes  Masculin  et  Feminin,  a  poem  published  at 
Toulouse,  1534,  and  answered  by  Arnault  de  Laborie  in  his 
Anti-Drusac. 

3  1510-1581.  Les  Tres  Merveilleuses  Victoires  des  Femmes 
du  nouveau  monde,  et  comment  elles  doibuent  d  tout  le  monde  par 
Raison  commander,  et  mesmes  d  ceulx  qui  auront  la  monarchie  du 
monde  vieil.  Par  Guillaume  Postel,  a  Paris.  Chez  Jelia  Ruelle, 
a  la  queue  Regnard.  Rue  Sainct  Jacques,  1553.  This  very  rare 
book,  a  copy  of  which  exists  in  the  reserve  of  the  Bib.  Nat.  at 
Paris,  was  dedicated  to  Margaret  of  Savoy.  For  Postel,  see 
Lavisse  (Hist,  de  France,  Vol.  V,  pt.  2,  p.  260)  and  Abel  Lefranc 
(Annuaire  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  de  I'Hist.  de  France,  1891,  p.  217). 

XXX 


Introduction 

that  the  Renaissance  woman  was  especially 
dominant.  "  Alas  !  the  ladies  are  all-powerful/' 
groaned  the  soldier  Blaise  de  Monluc.  Of  the 
sixteenth  -  century  Frenchwoman  it  might  be 
truly  said  :  "  non  pars  sed  totum,"  for  she 
insisted  upon  learning  everything,  seeing  every- 
thing, understanding  everything,  doing  everything. 
There  was  no  task  she  would  not  undertake, 
no  subject  of  conversation  she  would  not  tackle. 
Diana  of  Poitiers  dominated  French  art,  Catherine 
de  Medicis  directed  French  diplomacy  ;  and  in 
turn  three  royal  Margarets  of  three  successive 
generations  were  to  reign  over  the  three  phases 
through  which  French  Renaissance  literature 
was  to  pass. 

Much  confusion  has  arisen  concerning  these 
Egerias,  for,  by  a  curious  coincidence,  each  of 
them  was  a  princess  of  the  house  of  Valois,  two — 
the  first  and  third — were  authoresses  and  Queens 
of  Navarre,  two — the  first  and  second — were 
Duchesses  of  Berry,  two — the  second  and  third — 
as  daughters  of  French  kings  were  entitled  to  be 
called  Margaret  of  France.  Yet  for  each  one 
there  remains  a  title  to  which  she  alone  has 
exclusive  claim  :  the  first  we  may  call  Margaret 
of  Angouleme,1  the  second  Margaret  of  Savoy,2 

1  1492-1549- 

2  Not  to  be  confused  with  Margaret  of  Austria,  daughter  of 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  and  wife  of  Philibert  II,  Duke  of  Savoy. 
This  Austrian  Margaret  died  in  1530,  and  was  buried  in  the 
Church  of  Brou.    See  Matthew  Arnold's  Poem. 

c  xxxi 


Introduction 

and  the  third  "  La  Reine  Margot,"1  a  name  by 
which  she  is  known  in  poetry  and  fiction. 

The  derivation  of  Marguerite  from  the  Latin 
margarita,  a  pearl  and  its  synonym,  which  we 
call  the  daisy,  furnished  the  symbol-loving  writers 
of  the  Renaissance  with  many  an  elegant  play 
upon  words.  Thus  the  Grecian,  Jean  Dorat, 
traced  the  first  Margaret's  origin  to  a  pearl  which 
her  mother  had  swallowed.  Thus  Etienne  Pas- 
quier  remarked  that  all  good  things  came  in  threes, 
and  among  them  were  the  three  graces,  the  three 
flowers,  the  three  pearls,  the  three  Margarets. 
Joachim  du  Bellay  knew  only  the  first  two 
Margarets,  and,  after  the  death  of  the  first,  he 
wrote  a  sonnet  entitled  Les  Deux  Marguerites.2 
Ronsard  lived  to  know  and  to  sing  the  praises  of 
all  three  Margarets  : 

France,  que  dirons-nous  encor  de  tes  merites  ! 
C'est  toy  qui  as  nourry  trois  belles  Marguerites 
Qui  passent  d'Orient  les  perles  en  valeur  : 
L'une  vit  dans  le  ciel  exempte  du  malheur 
Qui  entretient  ce  siecle  en  querelles  et  noises, 
Ayant  regi  long  temps  les  terres  navarroises. 
L'autre,  prudente  et  sage,  et  seconde  Pallas, 
Fidele  a  son  grand  due,  embellit  de  ses  pas 
Les  hauts  monts  de  Savoye,  et  comme  une  deesse 
Marche  par  le  Piedmont,  au  milieu  d'une  presse 
Qui  court  a  grande  foule,  a  fin  de  faire  honneur 
A  ce  sang  de  Valois  qui  cause  leur  bonheur. 

1  i553-i6is. 

2  (Euvres  (ed.  Marty  Laveaux),  II,  41. 

xxxii 


Introduction 

L'autre  croist  soubs  sa  mere,  ainsi  qu'un  scion  tendre 
Sous  l'ombre  d'un  laurier  qui  doibt  bientost  estendre 
Ses  bras  jusques  au  ciel  et  son  chef  spatieux 
Pour  embasmer  d'odeur  et  la  terre  et  les  cieux.  l 

The  three  Margarets  in  turn,  as  we  have  said, 
influenced  the  three  periods  of  the  French  literary 
Renaissance.  Margaret  of  Angouleme  ruled  men's 
minds  in  the  dawn  of  the  movement  when  it  was 
almost  entirely  national.  Margaret  of  Savoy,  as 
we  shall  see,  directed  that  current  of  foreign, 
chiefly  of  classical  inspiration,  which  was  to 
refresh  the  national  literature  of  France.  La 
Reine  Margot,  the  daughter  of  an  Italian  mother, 
embodied  the  Italian  spirit,  in  its  complete 
decadence. 

Concerning  the  first  and  the  third  Margarets, 
whole  libraries  have  been  written.  But  the 
second,  who  is  the  subject  of  this  biography,  while 
highly  honoured  and  widely  praised  in  her  lifetime, 
has  been  singularly  neglected  by  posterity. 

The  first  Margaret  was  the  daughter  of  Charles, 
Count  of  Angouleme  and  Louise  of  Savoy,  and  the 
sister  of  King  Francis  I.  The  course  of  her  life, 
which  was  intimately  associated  with  that  of  her 
niece,  Margaret  of  Savoy,  may  be  gathered  from 
the  following  page~ . 

But  touching  her  character  we  may  here  say 
that  the  first  Margaret  was  an  elusive  person- 
ality ;    the  "  elixir  of   the  Valois,"  Michelet  has 

1  CEuvres  (ed.  Blanchemain),  IV,  pp.  31-33. 
xxxiii 


Introduction 

called  her,  and  indeed  her  character  is  well 
nigh  as  evanescent  as  the  precious  elixir  after 
which  the  alchemists  sought.  Was  she  mostly 
good  or  mostly  bad  ?  We  cannot  tell.  Serious 
charges  have  been  brought  against  her.  But 
by  the  majority  of  her  biographers  these  have 
been  denied.  Her  life,  full  of  inconsistencies, 
seems  to  have  resembled  the  day  of  those  ladies 
and  gentlemen  whom  she  describes  in  her  Hep- 
tamdron :  in  the  morning  they  read  the  scriptures 
and  went  to  church,  where  they  prayed  to  God, 
and  the  gifts  they  besought  of  Him  were  words 
and  grace  (parole  et  grace),  which  were  apparently 
to  be  employed  in  the  afternoon  for  the  telling  of 
some  of  the  most  licentious  stories  ever  recorded. 
And  so  we  find  Margaret's  personality  vacillating 
between  St.  Thomas  a  Kempis  and  Boccaccio,  at 
once  a  mystic  of  the  Middle  Age  and  a  pagan  of 
the  Renaissance,  half  coquette,  half  blue-stocking, 
a  friend  of  Calvin  and  of  Rabelais,  now  Protestant 
now  Catholic.  The  writer  of  pious  poems  1  and 
of  scandalous  stories,2  she  was  constant  in  nothing 

1  See  Les  Marguerites  de  la  Marguerite  des  Princesses  (4  vols.), 
edited,  with  an  excellent  Introduction,  by  Felix  Frank  (Librairie 
des  Bibliophiles,  1873). 

2  L'Heptameron,  of  which  there  are  many  editions.  See 
one  published  by  Lemerre,  1 879,  with  a  graceful  Introduction  by 
Anatole  France.  There  are  several  English  translations.  The 
two  best  are  (1)  by  A.  Machen  (1886),  privately  printed;  (2)  by 
John  Smith  Charters  (1894),  with  Introduction  by  Saintsbury 
(Soc.  of  Eng.  Bibliophilists). 

xxxiv 


Introduction 

save  in  her  loving-heartedness  and  in  her  adora- 
tion of  her  brother,  King  Francis. 

Her  poems  reveal  her  versatile,  critical  mind 
ever  occupied  with  the  great  problems  of  man's 
destiny.  And  we  find  her  endeavouring  to 
resolve  her  doubts  by  seeking  after  a  sign,  which 
should  give  her  some  clue  as  to  man's  fate  in  the 
world  beyond  the  tomb.  Many  stories  are  told 
of  her  obstinate  questionings.  They  will  be  re- 
ferred to  later,  but  one  we  may  relate  here.  A 
certain  knight  returned  from  the  wars  to  Mar- 
garet's court  at  Nerac.  During  his  absence  a  lady 
who  loved  him  had  died.  Margaret  conducted  the 
knight  to  the  lady's  tomb.  And,  standing  over  it, 
she  asked  him  whether  he  felt  anything  beneath 
his  feet.  "  No,  how  could  I  ?  "  he  replied,  "  seeing 
that  I  stand  upon  a  stone."  "  Ah,"  resumed 
Margaret,  "  beneath  that  stone  reposes  a  woman 
who  once  loved  you  and  whom  you  loved.  If  souls 
can  feel  after  death,  then  she  must  have  moved 
at  your  approach.  And,  you,  why  did  you  not 
share  her  emotion  ?  " 

Margaret's  own  opinion  of  herself  she  has 
probably  given  us  in  the  Heptameron,  where  she 
describes  Parlamente,  a  character  whom  the 
majority  of  critics  take  to  have  been  intended  for 
the  author.  Parlamente  was  "  a  lady  of  so  good 
a  family  that  there  could  be  no  better.  She  was 
a  woman  of  joyous  life  and  the  best  companion 
possible,  moving  cheerfully  in  all  sorts  of  society 

C 2  XXXV 


Introduction 

.  .  .  gay  and  pious,  loving  to  laugh,  young,  en  bon 
point,  of  an  excellent  constitution,  so  amiable  to 
her  admirers  that  she  may  not  complain  of  their 
miscomprehension  .  .  .  yet  she  goes  with  her 
head  in  the  air,  sure  of  her  honour." 

Whatever  the  first  Margaret's  personal  char- 
acter may  have  been,  the  influence  she  exercised 
over  the  French  Renaissance  in  its  early  phase 
is  beyond  doubt.  As  the  disciple  of  Plato,  the 
friend  of  Erasmus  and  of  Calvin,  she  was  at  once 
its  inspirer  and  its  reflection.  And  as  such  her 
niece  and  goddaughter,  Margaret  II,  the  subject 
of  this  biography,  was  her  intellectual  child  and 
successor. 

While  producing  no  original  literary  work  like 
her  aunt  and  her  niece,  the  second  Margaret  was 
of  the  three  by  far  the  most  scholarly  and,  in  a 
century  of  femmes  savantes,  perhaps  the  most 
learned  of  women.  Instead  of  talking  and  writing 
perpetually  like  her  aunt,  Margaret  of  Savoy 
was  content  to  follow  diligently  a  course  of 
profound  studies  not  surpassed  by  any  of  the 
greatest  professors  of  the  day.  One  year  she 
purchased  no  less  than  six  commentaries x  on 
Horace,  three  editions  of  Cicero's  De  officiis,  and 
The  Ethics  of  Aristotle  in  the  original  Greek  and 
in  a  Latin  translation. 

But,  like  the  eldest  Margaret,  Margaret  of  Savoy 
was  no  mere  blue-stocking  :  she  knew  how  to  win 

1  Accounts  for  1549.    See  post  p.  73. 


xxxvi 


Introduction 

men's  hearts.  At  the  court  of  her  brother,  Henry 
II,  no  one  was  more  loved  than  the  King's  only 
sister  (La  Sceur  Unique  du  Roi),  as  she  was  called  ; 
no  one  was  better  fitted  to  govern  the  men  of  those 
days,  who  were  both  cultured  and  barbaric. 
For  Margaret  was  at  once  a  woman  of  taste,  of  wit, 
of  breadth  of  mind,  but  above  all  of  feeling.  La 
bonte  du  monde  Brantome  calls  her.  And  in 
the  literature  of  the  time  we  see  her  surrounded 
with  gratitude.  Many  a  choice  spirit  of  the  age 
thanked  her  with  his  last  breath.  The  poet  Du 
Bellay,  in  one  of  the  last  letters  he  ever  wrote, 
tells  how  he  wept  over  her  departure  from  France. 
A  French  ambassador  to  Constantinople,  dying 
far  from  home,  left  to  her  the  administration  of 
his  fortune  and  the  care  of  his  orphan  nieces. 
L'Hospital  in  his  will  declared  that  to  her  he 
owed  all  the  success  of  his  career. 

Of  Margaret's  goodness,  despite  certain  scan- 
dalous stories,  there  is  no  question.  In  a  time  of 
the  most  brutal  passions  Margaret  of  Savoy  stood 
for  peace  and  calm,  for  liberty  and  toleration, 
for  sweetness  and  mercy,  for  purity  and  light. 
She  had  all  the  virtues  and  none  of  the  vices  of  the 
Valois.  By  her  fellow-countrymen  in  her  native 
land  of  France  she  was  adored  ;  by  her  subjects 
in  her  husband's  country  of  Savoy  and  Piedmont 
she  was  honoured  as  the  "  mother  of  her  people  "-,1 

1  Her  grandfather,  Louis  XII,  whom  Margaret  strongly 
resembled,  was  known  as  "  the  father  of  his  people." 

xxxvii 


Introduction 

and  at  her  death  she  was  mourned  by  all,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest.  For  her  loss,  wrote  one 
of  her  contemporaries,  tears  would  never  cease  to 
flow. 

Her  amiability  was  wonderful.  She  appears 
never  to  have  made  an  enemy.  And  yet  hers  was 
no  colourless  character.  In  the  numerous  move- 
ments, literary,  political  and  religious,  in  which 
she  played  a  prominent  part,  her  attitude  was 
ever  that  of  a  strong  soul  and  a  victorious. 

By  espousing  the  cause  of  Ronsard  and  the 
Pleiade  she  wrought  a  great  revolution  in  French 
poetry.  By  wisely  directing  the  universities  of 
Bourges  and  Turin  she  furthered  the  Renaissance. 
By  marrying  Emmanuel  Philibert,  Duke  of  Savoy, 
she  kept  the  peace  between  France  and  her  hus- 
band's principality.  By  interceding  on  behalf 
of  the  persecuted  Waldenses,  she  established 
religious  toleration  in  her  husband's  dominions. 
By  aiding  Emmanuel  Philibert  in  his  wise  reforms, 
and  by  persuading  her  countrymen  to  evacuate 
Piedmont,  she  founded  the  greatness  of  the 
Savoyard  house,  and  she  inaugurated  a  national 
policy  which,  two  centuries  later,  achieved  the 
union  of  Italy.  Notwithstanding  all  these  services 
rendered  to  literature,  to  learning,  to  religious 
liberty,  to  peace  and  to  nationality,  the  name  of 
Margaret  of  Savoy  would  have  been  forgotten  in 
the  land  of  her  birth,  and  possibly  also  in  the  land 
of  her  adoption,  had  it  not  been  for  the  verses  of 

xxxviii 


Introduction 

Ronsard  and  the  Pleiade.    Margaret,  like  Achilles, 
owes  her  fame  to  poetry. 

Of  Margaret  and  her  praises  Ronsard  might 
have  written : 

"  Not  marble,  nor  the  gilded  monuments 

Of  princes,  shall  outlive  this  powerful  rhyme, 
But  you  shall  shine  more  bright  in  these  contents 
Than  unswept  stone,  besmear'd  with  sluttish  time." 

Here  and  there  in  French  and  Italian  histories 
are  to  be  found  slight  notices  of  her  career.1  One 
French  biography  of  one  hundred  octavo  pages 
tells  the  story  of  her  life.2  But  her  numerous 
letters,  throwing  a  lurid  light  on  many  of  the 
thrilling  incidents  of  those  troubled  times,  lie 
for  the  most  part  unpublished  in  the  archives  of 
Paris,  Turin,  and  St.  Petersburg.3  Several  of 
them  are  printed  here  for  the  first  time. 

The  third  Margaret,  la  Reine  Margot,  the  niece 
of  Margaret  of  Savoy,  and  the  youngest  daughter 

1  One  of  the  most  graceful  of  these  is  in  Maulde  la  Claviere's 
Femmes  de  la  Renaissance  (1898),  pp.  655-62,  and  p.  421,  on 
which  will  be  found  three  of  Margaret's  letters.  Eng.  trans,  by 
G.  H.Ely  (1900). 

2  Une  Princesse  de  la  Renaissance  Marguerite  de  France,  by 
Roger  Peyre.    Paris,  1902. 

8  La  Revue  Historique  (1881,  May- August)  contains  seventeen 
out  of  the  thirty-seven  St.  Petersburg  letters,  written  between 
1560  and  1574,  M.  Peyre  {op.  cit.)  has  published  a  few  of  the 
Paris,  and  one  of  the  Turin  letters  ;  Victor  de  St.  Genis,  in  his 
Histoire  de  Savoie,  a  few  of  the  Turin  letters,  and  Emile  Ricotti 
others  in  Le  Recueil  de  V  Acadfmie  des  Sciences  de  Turin,  Vol. 
XVII,  2«me  serie. 


XXXIX 


Introduction 

of  Henry  II  and  Catherine  de  Medicis,  while  equally 
gifted  and  almost  as  learned,  was  far  from  following 
in  the  footsteps  of  her  aunt.  We  must  not  judge  the 
third  Margaret  from  her  own  Memoirs.1  Obviously 
written  expressly  to  whitewash  a  much  begrimed 
reputation,  they  differ  widely  from  any  other 
account  of  their  author.  And,  putting  her  Memoirs 
on  one  side,  it  would  hardly  be  an  exaggeration  to 
describe  la  Reine  Margot  as  the  scarlet  woman  of 
the  French  Wars  of  Religion.  Others  have  called 
her  une  beaute  luciferante,  the  apple  of  discord — 
but  a  very  lovely  apple — in  the  War  of  the  three 
Henries. 

No  woman  ever  lived  a  more  adventurous  life 
than  the  third  Margaret.  When  barely  in  her  teens 
she  became  an  arch  conspirator  at  the  court  of  her 
brother,  King  Charles  IX.2  Her  marriage  with 
Henry  of  Navarre,3  the  blood-red  wedding  as  it  has 
been  called,  preceded  by  but  a  few  days  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  The  story  of  that 
terrible  night  Margaret  has  told  in  her  Memoirs. 
In  the  early  hours  of  the  fatal  Sunday  morning  she 
was  rudely  roused  from  sleep  by  the  bursting 
into  her  chamber  of  a  wounded  Huguenot  knight, 
hotly  pursued  by  Catholic  assassins.  Clinging  to 
the  princess,  he  begged  her  to  save  him,  and  she 

1  The  only  reliable  edition  is  by  F.  Guessard,  Memoires  et 
Lettres  (1842). 
!  1560-1574. 
8  August  1 8th,  1572. 

xl 


Introduction 

was  able  to  obtain  his  life  and  to  have  his  wounds 
tended  in  her  dressing-room. 

After  thirteen  years  of  conjugal  disagreement, 
during  which  she  had  also  quarrelled  with  her 
brother,  King  Henry  III,  and  been  disinherited 
by  her  mother,  Margaret  fled  from  her  husband 
and  entrenched  herself  in  her  dower  town  of 
Agen.  But  thence,  after  a  short  time,  she 
was  driven  by  the  inhabitants.  Wandering 
from  place  to  place,  riding  on  a  pillion  behind 
a  knight  of  her  suite,  she  was  captured  by 
the  Marquis  de  Canillac,  who  carried  her  off 
a  prisoner  to  the  grim  fortress  of  Usson.  But 
there  the  parts  were  reversed,  and  Canillac, 
falling  a  victim  to  his  prisoner's  charms,  himself 
became  the  prisoner.  And  Margaret  for  fifteen 
years  ruled  as  chatelaine  of  Usson.  Her  court 
is  by  some  described  as  a  den  of  thieves,  by  others 
as  a  centre  of  culture  and  of  learning.  It  was 
probably  both. 

In  1599,  after  the  death  of  her  hated  rival, 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  whom  Henry  had  wished  to 
marry,  Margaret  consented  to  be  divorced  from 
her  husband,  who  was  by  then  King  of  France. 

Emerging  from  Usson  into  the  life  of  Bourbon 
Paris,  Margaret,  with  her  sixteenth  -  century 
wig  and  farthingale,  appeared  a  quaint  relic  of 
the  old  Valois  days.  She  and  her  former  husband 
were  now  the  best  of  friends.  He  visited  her 
frequently,   paid  her   debts  and  gave  her  good 

xli 


Introduction 

advice  which  she  persistently  disregarded,  con- 
tinuing in  Paris,  in  the  mansion  she  had  built  for 
herself  opposite  the  Louvre,  the  wild  revels  of 
Usson.1  The  third  Margaret  survived  her  hus- 
band's assassination  five  years  and  died  in  1615, 
the  last  of  the  Valois,  the  last  of  the  Renaissance 
women.  For  a  new  type  of  femininity  was  arising. 
The  day  of  les  Precieuses  was  dawning  ;  and  in  the 
Rue  St.  Thomas  du  Louvre  Madame  de  Ram- 
bouillet  was  preparing  the  famous  Blue  Room, 
in  which  she  was  to  hold  her  salon. 

1  See  Duplomb,  L'Hotel  de  la  Rcine  Mar  got;  also  Merki,  La 
Reine  Margot  et  la  Fin  des  Valois. 


xlii 


MARGARET  OF   FRANCE 
DUCHESS    OF    SAVOY 


CHAPTER    I 

MARGARET   AND    HER   FAMILY    CIRCLE 

Birth  and  Baptism  of  Margaret — Her  Parents — Her  Mother's 
death — Her  Father's  Imprisonment — Her  Aunt,  Margaret  of 
Angouleme — Childhood  on  the  Loire  —  Imprisonment  of  the 
French  Princes  in  Spain — Their  Return  to  France  with 
Queen  Eleonore — Margaret's  friend,  Le  Beau  Brissac. 

"  La  pauvre  femme  aurait  voulu,  avant  tout,  s'enraciner  dans 
des  affections  de  famille,  et  ces  affections  lui  avaient  ete  arrachees 
une  a  une,  arrachees  avec  son  sang." — Maulde  de  la  Claviere. 

THE  second  Margaret,  fourth  and  young- 
est daughter  of  King  Francis  I  of 
France,  and  of  Queen  Claude,  his  wife, 
was  born  on  the  5th  of  June,  1523,  in 
the  Palace  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye.  Few  royal 
dwellings  have  undergone  more  metamorphoses 
than  St.  Germain.  And  little  remains  to-day  of 
the  old  feudal  fortress  in  which  Margaret  first 
saw  the  light ;  for,  soon  after  her  birth,  the  King 
began  to  transform  the  mediaeval  castle  into  a 
Renaissance  palace,  which  was  to  become  the 
Versailles  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  only 
part  of  the  old  chateau  to  escape  the  modernising 
hand  of  the  Renaissance  builder  was  the  chapel 
of  St.  Louis,  which,  considerably  restored  doubt- 

3 


Margaret  of  France 

less,  still  stands  in  its  mediaeval  grace  and  august 
simplicity.  Here  it  was  that  on  the  21st  of  June, 
1523,  the  infant  Margaret  was  baptized.  The 
babe  was  held  over  the  font  by  her  Aunt  Margaret, 
the  Duchess  of  Alencon,1  by  whose  name  she  was 
christened. 

On  her  father's  and  on  her  mother's  side,  the 
second  Margaret  was  descended  from  the  royal 
house  of  Valois.  Had  not  the  Salic  Law  prevented, 
Margaret's  mother,  Claude,  would  have  succeeded 
to  the  kingdom  of  France  on  the  death  of  her 
father,  Louis  XII.  As  it  was,  Claude's  husband 
and  cousin,  the  Count  of  Angouleme,  ascended  the 
throne  as  Francis  I. 

In  after  years  many  a  great  poet  was  to  celebrate 
the  coming  of  the  second  Margaret.  "  Take  down 
the  lyre  and  on  its  strings  extol  the  Virgin's 
birth,"  Ronsard  was  to  sing  in  triumphant  verse. 
"  Tell  how  by  a  new  miracle,  Pallas  opened  with 
her  lance  the  learned  brain  of  Francis,  King  of 
France.  Then,  O  tidings  wonderful,  how  thou  forth 
from  his  brains  didst  spring,  and  how  by  the 
Muses  that  abide  therein  thou  wert  nourished."  2 

Thus  in  antique  guise  and  with  poetic  license 
Ronsard  lauded  Margaret's  advent.  In  prosaic 
fact  the  event  created  little  stir.     Had  Margaret 

1  Charles,  Duke  of  Alencon,  was  the  first  Margaret's  first  hus- 
band. He  died  in  1525,  and,  in  1527,  she  married  Henry  d'Albret, 
King  of  Navarre. 

*  A  Madame  Marguerite,  Duchesse  de  Savoie,  Sceur  du  Roy, 
Henry  II. 

4 


Giraudoti 


PORTRAIT  BY  CORNEILLE  ME  l.YON,   SAID  TO  REPRESENT  QUEEN  CLAUDE 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

been  a  boy,  the  cannon  of  Paris  would  have 
heralded  her  coming  with  one  hundred  and  twenty 
salutes,  for  a  girl  only  twenty-four  were  deemed 
necessary.1  In  that  year,  1523,  the  prospects 
of  France  were  dark,  and  the  King  and  his 
counsellors  too  engrossed  in  public  affairs  to 
heed  so  common  and  trifling  a  domestic  occur- 
rence as  the  birth  of  a  princess.  At  home  reigned 
discord  and  discontent  :  the  citizens  of  Paris 
were  complaining  that  their  King,  while  dissipating 
the  treasure  left  by  his  predecessor,  was  doing 
nothing  for  his  kingdom.  Abroad  the  King's 
enemies  were  combining  against  him,  and  the 
commander  of  his  forces  had  turned  traitor. 
Constable  Bourbon  had  gone  over  to  England 
and  to  the  Empire.  The  Venetian  Republic  had 
joined  this  triple  alliance.  French  territory  was 
being  invaded — on  the  east  by  German  troops,  on 
the  west  by  an  English  army,  which  approached  to 
within  eleven  leagues  of  Paris.  Harassed  by  cares 
such  as  these,  we  may  be  sure  that  to  the  arrival 
of  a  fourth  daughter,  King  Francis,  never  a  very 
paternal  person,  had  neither  leisure  nor  inclination 
to  pay  much  heed. 

The  poet,  in  celebrating  Margaret's  birth,  had 
forgotten  one  whom  it  somewhat  intimately 
concerned.  But  if  Ronsard  ignored  Margaret's 
mother,   who,    when    he    wrote,    had  long  since 

1  Still,  a  French  peasant,  when  asked  if  he  has  any  family, 
will  reply  :    "  No,  only  daughters." 

5 


Margaret  of  France 

passed  away,  her  biographer  cannot  afford  to 
do  so,  for  Claude's  daughter  inherited  many 
of  her   mother's   best  characteristics. 

Claude's  brief  life  was  not  a  happy  one.  Her 
mother,  the  shrewd  Anne  of  Brittany,  wished  to 
marry  her  to  the  Archduke  Charles,  later  the  Em- 
peror Charles  V,  who  would  probably  have  made 
her  a  good  husband.  But  King  Louis  was  bent 
on  continuing  the  succession  in  his  own  line 
by  marrying  his  daughter  to  his  heir-presumptive, 
Francis,  Duke  of  Valois  and  Count  of  Angouleme. 
In  vain  did  the  Queen  plead  that  Claude  was  not 
the  bride  to  attract  the  handsome,  dashing 
Francis,  already  the  gallant  squire  of  many 
beautiful  dames.  Claude  was  short  and  in- 
significant, homely  of  feature,  with  a  slight 
lameness,  which  she  had  inherited  from  her  mother. 
"  True  she  is  not  beautiful,"  said  Louis,  "  but 
her  goodness  will  win  her  husband's  heart." 
Mere  goodness,  however,  was  not  likely  to  attract 
the  young  Count  of  Angouleme. 

Although  the  betrothal  took  place  in  1506, 
when  Claude  was  seven  and  Francis  ten,  there  was 
no  marriage  as  long  as  the  Queen  lived.  But  Anne 
died  in  15 14 ;  and,  straightway,  the  young  Count 
of  Angouleme,  impatient  to  control  his  bride's 
vast  fortune,  demanded  that  the  wedding  should 
be  celebrated  without  delay.  And  so,  on  the 
1 8th  of  May,  15 14,  while  the  Court  was  still  in 
mourning,    at   the   Palace   of    Saint-Germain-en- 

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Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

Laye,  Princess  Claude  and  Count  Francis  were 
wedded. 

The  doleful  character  of  her  nuptials  shadowed 
forth  the  sorrows  which  awaited  the  bride  :  no 
trumpets,  minstrels,  jousts  or  tournaments  en- 
livened the  ceremony,  no  cloth  of  gold,  no  silk, 
satin,  or  velvet  ;  for  the  bride  wore  mourning  ;  1 
and  there  were  few  spectators  and  fewer  guests. 

Immediately  after  the  wedding  Claude  was  sent 
away  to  Blois  while  her  husband  went  off  to 
Paris,  where  lived  a  certain  lawyer's  wife,  of  whom 
we  read  in  the  Heptameron.2  Then  Francis  re- 
paired to  Etampes.  And  the  impropriety  of  a 
newly  married  couple  living  thus  apart  had  to  be 
represented  to  him  before  he  could  be  induced  to 
pay  his  wife  even  a  short  visit.  Three  years  after 
her  marriage,  on  the  evening  of  her  coronation  day, 
when  all  the  pomp  and  pageantry  were  past,  we 
find  the  little  Queen  creeping  back  alone  to  the 
deserted  cathedral  to  weep  at  her  father's  tomb. 
The  King's  neglect  of  his  wife  was  copied  by  the 
Court  and  especially  by  the  Queen  Mother,  the 
brilliant,  beautiful,  but  malicious  Louise  of  Savoy,3 
who  vented  her  dislike  of  Queen  Anne  on  Anne's 
daughter. 

1  In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  mourning  colours 
were  white  for  women,  black  for  men.  For  a  mother,  father,  or 
husband,  women  wore  gowns  with  hanging  sleeves,  trimmed  with 
white  fur,  either  squirrel  or  grebe.  See  Alfred  Franklin,  La 
Civilite  (1908),  I,  p.  233.  « 

2  Nouvelle  xxv.  3  1476-1531. 

9 


Margaret  of  France 

Despised  at  Court,  Claude  was  adored  by  the 
people  of  France.  To  the  virtues  of  the  wise  King, 
Louis  XII,  her  father,  she  added  gentleness  and 
endurance.  "  Good  Queen  Claude  "  the  people 
called  her.  On  her  death,  in  the  flower  of  her 
womanhood,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  her 
subjects  mourned  her  loss  and  worshipped  her  as 
a  saint.  Some  said  she  had  never  committed 
mortal  sin.  Others  related  how  many  sick 
persons  visited  her  tomb  and  were  healed  of  their 
infirmities.  It  was  told  how  her  body,  as  it  rested 
in  the  Chapel  of  Saint  Calais  at  Blois,  worked 
miracles,  and  how  candles  of  wax  were  offered 
at  her  shrine.  One  of  her  ladies,  being  tormented 
by  a  fever,  invoked  the  Queen,  and  straightway 
the  fever  departed  from  her.  "  The  Queen  was 
esteemed  the  flower  and  pearl  of  ladies,"  testi- 
fied a  contemporary  writer,  "  a  true  mirror  of 
modesty,  holiness,  piety,  and  innocence,  the  most 
charitable  and  courteous  of  her  day,  loved  by  each, 
and  loving  her  subjects,  doing  good  to  all  and 
caring  for  nought  save  to  serve  God  and  to  please 
the  King,  her  husband." 

Thus,  a  pale  flower,  a  Griseldis  born  out  of  due 
time,  a  relic  of  mediaeval  days  when  the  whole 
duty  of  woman  was  submission,  Queen  Claude 
passed  away.  She  had  nothing  in  common  with 
the  budding  Renaissance  type  of  womanhood, 
with  the  strong,  loud,  albeit  graceful  and  fas- 
cinating   femininity    of    the    sixteenth    century. 


IO 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

Amidst  Renaissance  pomp  and  pageantry  Claude 
sickened  and  grew  pale.  In  the  old  Blois  chateau, 
her  father's  favourite  home,  where  her  mother 
had  breathed  her  last,  Queen  Claude  died  on  the 
26th  of  July,  in  the  year  1524. 

The  conduct  of  King  Francis  towards  his  wife 
at  her  death  was  of  a  piece  with  his  treatment  of 
her  during  life.  He  and  Madame,  his  mother, 
and  Madame  Renee,1  his  sister-in-law,  and  Mon- 
sieur le  Dauphin,  had  gone  off  to  Romorantin,  to 
pass  the  time  of  the  Queen's  illness.  Thence  they 
had  repaired  to  Bourges,  where  the  Dauphin 
was  to  be  shown  the  world  and  taught  to  play  the 
courtier.  It  was  at  Bourges  that  the  King  heard 
of  his  wife's  death.  And  he  was  characteristically 
quit  of  his  marital  devotion  with  a  pretty  phrase  : 
"  I  had  not  thought  that  the  bonds  of  marriage 
were  so  hard  and  so  difficult  to  break,"  he  cried  ; 
"could  I  buy  her  life  with  mine  she  should  live 
again."  2 

Francis  was  then  deeply  engrossed  in  prepara- 
tions for  war  with  the  Emperor.  He  was  therefore 
too  busy  to  give  his  wife  a  state  funeral,  and  so, 
for  the  time,  Claude  was  interred  unceremoniously 
in  the  Chapel  of  Saint  Calais  at  Blois.  Two  years 
later,  in  November,  1526,  her  body,  with  that  of 

1  Second  daughter  of  Louis  XII  and  Anne  of  Brittany. 

2  Si  je  pensois  la  rachaptev  pour  ma  vie  je  la  luy  bailleroys  de 
bon  cueur.  Et  n'eusse  jamais  pense  que  le  lyen  de  mariage  .  .  . 
feust  si  dur  et  difficile  d  rompre.  "  Lettres  de  Marguerite  d'An- 
gouleme  "  (ed.  Genin),  I,  p.  167. 

11 


Margaret  of  France 

her  eldest  daughter,  Louise,  was  borne  with  some 
pomp  from  Blois  to  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Denis. 
At  this  funeral,  besides  the  lords  and  ladies  of  the 
Court  and  the  great  functionaries  of  the  realm, 
were  present  Louise  of  Savoy,  Madame  Renee,  and 
the  Duchess  of  Alencon.  The  King  was  not  at  the 
burial,  although  he  came  to  St.  Denis  immediately 
it  was  over.  On  his  death,  twenty-one  years  later, 
Francis  was  buried  with  his  two  sons  in  the  same 
tomb  as  his  wife.  And  over  it  his  son,  Henry  II, 
erected  that  superb  monument,  ascribed  to  Phili- 
bert  de  L'Orme,  which  is  one  of  the  glories  of  the 
cathedral. 

In  her  last  illness  Oueen  Claude  had  not  been 
utterly  forsaken.  Over  her  sick-bed  had  watched 
her  sister-in-law,  Margaret,  Duchess  of  Alencon, 
who  was  ever  ready  to  tend  the  sick  and  to  comfort 
the  unfortunate.  Now  that  Claude  was  dead  the  first 
Margaret  became  a  mother  to  Claude's  little  children. 

Throughout  her  married  life  there  was  rarely 
a  year  that  the  Queen  did  not  present  her  royal 
spouse  with  an  infant.  In  historical  narrative 
there  has  been  so  much  confusion  over  these 
children  that  my  readers  will  pardon  me  if  I  give 
a  not  wholly  irrelevant  statement  of  the  facts. 
The  eldest  child  was  a  girl,  Louise,  born  at  Am- 
boise  on  the  19th  of  August,  1515,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  two.1     Brantume  calls  her  "  a  princess 

1  The  Citizen  of  Paris  {Journal,  ed.  Bourrilly,  1910)  gives 
various  dates  for  the  death  of  Louise — pp.  63,  71,  248. 

12 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

of  great  promise,"  but  such  was  the  usual  de- 
scription of  princes  and  princesses,  especially 
when  they  died  young.  The  only  important  event 
in  the  short  life  of  Louise  was  her  betrothal  to 
King  Charles  of  Spain,  afterwards  the  Emperor 
Charles  V,  by  the  Treaty  of  Noyon  in  15 16.  On 
the  21st  of  September  in  the  following  year,  she 
died.  Charlotte,  the  second  in  what  Brantome 
calls  '  Queen  Claude's  fine  line  of  daughters," 
was  born  at  Amboise  on  the  26th  of  October,  15 16. 
She  was  named  Charlotte  after  Charles,  King  of 
Spain,  whose  ambassador,  Ravastein,  was  her 
godfather.  In  15 17,  by  the  Treaty  of  Rouen,  she 
was  promised  in  marriage  to  James  V  of  Scotland, 
and  later,  on  her  sister's  death,  to  Charles  of  Spain. 
Charlotte  died,  as  we  shall  see,1  on  the  8th  of 
September,  1524.  Claude's  eldest  son,  the  Dauphin 
Francois,  was  born  at  Amboise  on  the  last  day  of 
February,  1518.  After  the  advent  of  two  girls, 
the  birth  of  an  heir  was  welcomed  with  great  joy, 
and  with  more  magnificence — "jousts,  skirmish- 
ings, sham  fights  and  sham  sieges  than  ever 
before  in  the  memory  of  man."  A  second  son, 
Henry,  named  after  Henry  VIII  of  England, 
who  was  to  succeed  to  the  French  throne  as  Henry 
II,  was  born  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  on  the 
last  day  of  March,  15 19.  The  Journal  of  Louise 
de  Savoie,  in  words  too  frank  for  quotation  here, 
tells  how,  on  the  10th  of  August,  1520,  a  third 

1  Post  p.  14. 

13 


Margaret  of  France 

girl  was  born  at  St.  Germain,  and  at  the  same 
place,  on  the  22nd  of  January,  1522,  a  third  boy, 
Charles,  Count  of  Angouleme.  The  Diary  of 
Louise  stops  short  in  this  year.  She  does  not 
therefore  chronicle  the  birth  of  Margaret,  who 
was  an  infant  of  a  year  old  at  her  mother's  death. 

To  tenderly  care  for  these  six  motherless 
children  was  a  task  bravely  undertaken  and 
conscientiously  performed  by  their  Aunt  Mar- 
garet, the  Duchess  of  Alencon.  When  Charlotte 
fell  ill  of  the  measles,  Margaret  nursed  her  to  the 
end,  bearing  all  the  burden  of  this  illness  alone 
through  her  desire  to  shield  from  anxiety  the 
child's  grandmother  and  father.  But  Margaret's 
solicitude  was  unnecessary  ;  neither  Louise  nor 
Francis  was  greatly  moved  when  they  heard  of 
little  Charlotte's  death.  Had  it  been  one  of  his 
sons  who  had  died,  the  King  would  have  grieved 
more  deeply.  As  it  was,  he  merely  recalled 
having  three  times  seen  his  dead  daughter  in  a 
dream,  appearing  to  him  and  saying,  "  Farewell, 
my  King,  I  see  ...  in  Paradise."  x 

On  the  Duchess  of  Alencon,  her  niece's  sickness 
and  death  made  a  very  deep  impression.  In  its 
various  phases  she  described  Charlotte's  illness 
to  her  correspondent,  Guillaume  Briconnet,2  the 
mystic  Bishop  of  Meaux.    To  her  niece's  memory 

1  Lettres  de  Marguerite  d' Angouleme,  I  (ed.  Genin,  1841), 
pp.  170  et  seq. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  168  et  seq. 

14 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

she  dedicated  the  longest  of  her  religious  poems, 
Le  Miroir  de  I'Ame  Pecker  esse.  And  in  four  grace- 
ful rondeaux  she  composed  an  imaginary  dialogue 
between  herself  and  the  child  in  Paradise,  be- 
ginning : 

"  Respondez-moy,  O  doulce  ame  vivante, 

•  •  i  •  • 

Dictes  commant  en  la  cour  triomphante, 
De  vostre  roy  et  pere  este  contente."  x 

Soon  after  Charlotte's  death,  the  sole  re- 
sponsibility of  the  King's  children  devolved  upon 
Margaret,  for  in  February,  1525,  their  father  was 
taken  prisoner  at  Pavia  and  carried  away  to 
Spain.  During  this  time  a  second  epidemic  of 
measles  visited  the  royal  nursery.  But  Margaret 
did  not  tell  her  brother  of  his  children's  illness 
until  they  had  all  recovered.  Then,  in  a  few 
graphic  sentences,  she  described  the  health  and 
the  occupations  of  the  little  family  :  "  And  now 
all  are  quite  well  and  perfectly  healthy.  M.  le 
Dauphin  2  does  wonders  at  his  books,  introducing 
into  his  studies  a  thousand  other  exercises  ;  and 
there  is  no  more  question  of  bad  temper,  but  of  all 
the  virtues.  M.  d'Orleans  3  is  nailed  to  his  book 
and  says  he  will  be  good.  But  M.  d'Angouleme  4 
knows  more  than  all  the  others,  and  does  things 
which  are  more  like  prophecies  than  mere  childish 

1  Poesies  du  Roi,   Francois  I,   etc.   (ed.   Champollion-Figeac, 
I847),  PP-  23-26. 

*  Francois.  3  Afterwards  Henry  II.  4  Charles. 

15 


Margaret  of  France 

deeds,  at  which  you,  my  Lord,  would  be  amazed 
if  you  could  hear  them." 

Then  follows  our  earliest  description  of  the 
three-year-old  Margaret,  the  youngest  of  the 
King's  children,  her  aunt's  godchild,  and  her 
favourite  : 

"  Little  Margot  is  like  me  ;  she  is  determined  not 
to  be  ill.  But  here  I  am  assured  that  she  is  very 
graceful,  and  that  she  becomes  prettier  than 
ever  was  Mademoiselle  d'Angouleme  [the  Duchess 
of  Alencon]."  *  Of  all  the  royal  children  Margaret 
was  the  most  robust  ;  and  her  good  health  con- 
tinued until  middle  life. 

The  childhood  of  the  royal  children  was  spent 
chiefly  on  the  sunny  banks  of  the  Loire,  in  the 
old  Castle  of  Blois  or  in  the  new  chateau  which 
Francis  was  building  not  far  away  at  Chambord. 
Enclosed  in  a  vast  park,  now  bereft  of  its  ancient 
timber,  Chambord  represented  a  new  departure  in 
French  architecture,  and  a  new  spirit  in  the  French 
Renaissance.  Blois,  built  much  of  it  in  the  dawn 
of  the  French  Renaissance,  when  the  movement 
was  essentially  national,  expresses  the  salient 
characteristics  of  the  French  people  ;  it  is  august, 
clear  and  regular  in  its  lines.  Chambord,  on  the 
other  hand,  with  its  forest  of  steeples,  turrets,  and 
minarets,  almost  bewildering  in  its  wealth  of 
adornment,  is  graceful  and  fantastic,  suggesting 
the  light  Italianism  which  Francis  was  introducing 

1  Nouvelles  Lettres  de  la  Reine  de  Navarre  (ed.  Genin,  1842),  p.  71 . 

16 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

into  the  French  Renaissance,  and  which  was  to 
characterise  the  movement  in  its  second  phase. 

Twelve  years  and  eighteen  hundred  workmen 
it  took  to  build  Chambord,  and,  at  the  end  of  that 
time  Francis  had  tired  of  his  new  plaything, 
and  transferred  his  affection  to  Fontainebleau, 
where  Italian  artists  were  already  busily  at  work. 

Blois,  Chambord,  and  Fontainebleau  were  the 
favourite  homes  of  Margaret's  youth.  But  some- 
times she  and  her  brothers  and  sister  were,  to 
their  great  delight,  invited  to  the  gorgeous  palaces 
of  Ecouen  and  Chantilly,  to  visit  the  friend  of  their 
father's  boyhood,  Anne  de  Montmorency,  le 
Grand-Maitre,  who  was  soon  to  become  le  Conne- 
table  de  France.  In  Margaret's  life,  Montmorency 
and  his  wife,  Madeleine,  Madame  la  Connetable, 
were  to  play  a  prominent  part. 

In  public  affairs  grim,  cruel,  and  relentless, 
a  bigoted  Catholic,  breathing  forth  sentences 
of  death  intermingled  with  his  prayers,  in  private 
life  Anne  de  Montmorency  was  a  kind  and  devoted 
friend.  The  children  of  Francis  I,  especially 
Margaiet  and  her  brother  Henry,  adored  him. 
Margaret  always  addressed  him  as  mon  bon  pere, 
and  her  visits  to  Chantilly  and  to  Ecouen  lost  half 
their  pleasure  when  he  was  not  present.1  She 
was  far  more  attached  to  Montmorency  than  to 
her  father,  of  whom  she  and  her  sister  Madeleine 
stood  considerably  in  awe.    The  only  extant  letter 

1  See  her  letter  to  Montmorency.    Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3152,  Fo.  50. 
c  ,7 


Margaret  of  France 

written  by  Margaret  to  King  Francis  betrays 
none  of  the  warm  affection  which  is  evident  in 
her  letters  to  the  Constable. 

"  My  lord,"  she  writes  to  her  father,  "  so  far  and 
so  very  humbly  as  I  can  I  commend  myself  to  your 
good  grace.  My  lord,  hitherto  I  have  not  ventured 
to  give  you  the  trouble  of  reading  my  bad  writing, 
fearing  to  fall  short,  which  I  should  be  very  sorry 
to  do,  especially  towards  you,  wherefore  I  have 
entreated  the  bearer  of  this  letter  to  tell  you 
better ;  and  rather  would  I  obey  you  than 
possess  pearls.  . 

"  My  lord,  I  pray  God  to  grant  you  a  happy 
life  and  a  long  one. 

"  Your     very     humble     and     very     obedient 

dauShter'  "  Margaret."  ' 

"  To  the  King,  my  sovereign  lord." 

The  sons  of  King  Francis  were  more  at  their  ease 
with  their  father.  "  They  are  not  pleased  at 
your  going  away,"  wrote  their  Aunt  Margaret  to 
her  brother.     "  M.  d'Angouleme  has  decided  that 

1  "  Mon  seigneur  tant  et  si  tres  humblement  que  je  puys  a 
votre  bonne  grace  me  recommande. 

"  Monseigneur  jusques  ycy  je  n'ay  ose  vous  donner  la  peine 
de  lyre  ma  maulvaise  lectre,  craingnant  faillir,  ce  que  ne  veulx 
jamais  priencipallement  en  vers  vous,  comme  j'ay  prye  ce  porteur 
ce  porteur  [sic]  mieulx  vous  dire  et  plustost  vous  obbeir  que 
d'avoir  des  perles. 

"  Monseigneur  je  prye  Dieu  qu'il  vous  doinct  tres  bonne  vie  et 

longue.         <<  Vostre  tres  humble  et  tres  obeissante  fille, 

"  Marguerite." 
"  Au  Roy  mon  souverain  seigneur." 

Bibliotheque  Nationale  Fonds  francais  2915,  Folio  312. 

18 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

when  once  he  finds  you  he  will  never  let  go  your 
hand,  and  when  you  hunt  the  boar,  he  knows 
you  will  see  that  he  is  not  hurt." 

There  was  a  sad  parting  in  the  royal  nursery 
when,  in  1526,  on  the  King's  return  from  Spain, 
his  two  eldest  sons,  the  Dauphin  Francois  and 
Henry  Duke  of  Orleans,  were  carried  away  to 
take  their  father's  place  in  captivity. 

It  was  their  grandmother,  Louise  de  Savoie, 
who  had  decided  that  the  exchange  should  be 
made.  The  welfare  of  France  demanded  it ; 
but  it  cut  Louise  to  the  heart  to  send  the  two 
boys  away  to  a  foreign  and  a  hostile  land.  She 
was  growing  very  fond  of  her  grandsons  ;  "  the 
little  doctors  ' '  their  Aunt  Margaret  called  them, 
because  their  presence  was  an  infallible  cure  for 
their  grandmother's  gout. 

The  Treaty  of  Madrid  had  set  King  Francis  free 
on  condition  that  his  place  in  prison  should  be 
taken  by  his  two  eldest  sons,  who  were  to  be  held 
as  hostages  until  all  the  terms  of  the  treaty  had 
been  complied  with. 

The  exchange  of  prisoners  took  place  on  a  boat 
half-way  across  the  Bidassoa,  a  narrow  stream 
which  separates  the  two  kingdoms  of  France 
and  Spain.  The  King  entered  the  boat  which 
came  from  the  French  bank  while  his  little  sons 
embarked  on  that  which  had  borne  their  father 
from  the  Spanish  frontier.  "  Keep  well  and 
cheerful,  I  will  soon  send  for  you,"  cried  the  King. 

!9 


Margaret  of  France 

Then  with  tears  in  his  eyes  and  making  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  he  gave  them  his  parental  blessing, 
and  turned  towards  his  glad  kingdom  of  France, 
where  a  right  royal  welcome  awaited  him.  x 
Having  landed  on  French  soil  the  liberated 
monarch  bestrode  a  fiery  Turkish  steed,  which 
carried  him  like  a  whirlwind  to  Bayonne. 

Meanwhile  his  sons  were  taken  to  Madrid,  there 
to  suffer  all  the  fury  of  Charles  V's  wrath,  when 
he  discovered  that  the  French  King  had  played 
him  false  and  had  no  intention  of  keeping  the 
promises  made  in  the  Treaty  of  Madrid. 

The  Emperor  revenged  himself  upon  the  princes 
by  separating  them  from  their  governor,  M.  de 
Brissac  and  his  wife,  and  from  all  their  French 
attendants  who  had  accompanied  them  from 
France.  Some  of  their  servants  were  sent  to  the 
galleys,  sold  to  Barbary  pirates,  and  never  heard 
of  again.  Confined  in  a  pestilential  prison,  and 
surrounded  by  foreigners,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  elder  of  the  boys  grew  up  delicate  and 
died  at  an  early  age,  while  the  younger  developed 
a  taciturnity,  a  reserve,  and  une  figure  de  prison,2' 
as  Michelet  calls  it,  which  were  more  Spanish 
than  French. 

Soon  after  the  French  King's  return,  a  new 
war  broke  out  with  the  Emperor,  and  it  seemed  as 

1  Archives  Curieuses,  Vol.  II,  Series  i,  p.  527.  Paulin  Paris, 
Etudes  sur  Francois  I,  Vol.  II,  p.  335  and  note  1. 

2  See  the  portrait  of  Henry  II  by  Primaticcio  in  the  Louvre. 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

if  the  young  princes  would  be  left  to  languish 
indefinitely  in  Spain.  At  length,  however,  three 
years  after  their  departure  from  France,  in  the 
summer  of  1529,  their  grandmother,  Louise  de 
Savoie,  who  was  consumed  with  anxiety  about  the 
fate  of  her  grandsons,  met  the  Emperor's  aunt, 
Margaret  of  Austria,  at  Cambray,  and  arranged 
what  was  called  "the  Peace  of  the  Ladies."  The 
ransom  of  the  French  princes  was  fixed  at  two 
million  crowns,  1,200,000  to  be  paid  on  the  arrival 
of  the  captives  in  France,  the  rest  in  instalments. 
But  the  King's  counsellors  found  it  very  difficult 
to  raise  the  money  :  the  months  dragged  on  and 
still  the  princes  remained  in  captivity.  The  Treaty 
of  Cambray  had  been  signed  in  August,  and  it 
was  March  before  the  first  instalment  of  the 
ransom  was  forthcoming.  Then  the  Spaniards 
insisted  on  having  every  coin  tested.  Certain 
crowns  were  declared  to  be  bad,  and  40,000  more 
had  to  be  procured.  Finally  the  coins  were 
deposited  in  iron  coffers,  which  were  sealed,  com- 
mitted to  the  care  of  picked  Spanish  archers, 
and  taken  to  Bayonne.  Then  only,  on  the  1st  of 
July,  1530,  after  four  years  of  captivity,  were  the 
royal  prisoners  released  from  the  stronghold  of 
Renteria,  five  miles  from  Fontarabia,  in  which 
for  the  last  eight  weeks  they  had  been  confined. 
Early  in  the  morning  of  the  1st,  accompanied 
by  Monsieur  and  Madame  de  Brissac,  by  the 
Constable  of  Castile  and  a  company  of  Spanish 

21 


Margaret  of  France 

soldiers,  the  princes  set  out  for  the  French  frontier. 
But  even  then,  almost  within  sight  of  their  longed- 
for  native  land,  liberty  once  again  seemed  to 
recede  before  them.  For  the  Constable,  having 
heard  that  a  French  army  was  advancing  to  St. 
Jean-de-Luz,  and  fearing  lest  his  charges  should 
be  torn  from  him  before  the  payment  of  their 
ransoms,  hurried  them  back  to  Renteria. 

Meanwhile  Queen  Eleonore  of  Portugal,  the 
sister  of  Charles  V  and  the  affianced  bride  of  King 
Francis,  who  was  to  enter  France  with  the  young 
princes,  was  awaiting  them  at  Fontarabia.1  When 
the  Queen  heard  of  the  Constable's  volte-face, 
she  was  extremely  incensed.  Forthwith  she  des- 
patched a  messenger  to  remonstrate  with  him, 
and  to  assure  him  that  the  rumour  of  the  advance 
of  a  French  army  was  false.  Thereupon  the 
Constable  and  his  company  hastened  to  set  forth 
again.  And,  towards  six  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
the  two  young  princes  joined  their  future  step- 
mother at  Fontarabia. 

Two  hours  later  the  princes  in  one  boat  and 
Queen  Eleonore  in  another,  set  out  from  the 
Spanish  bank  of  the  Bidassoa.  Simultaneously 
from  the  French  side  started  a  French  boat 
bearing  the  iron  chests,  which  contained  the 
princes'  ransom.  Midway  across  stream  an  ex- 
change was  effected,  the  chests  being  carried  on 

1  Eleonore  had  been  betrothed  to  the  French  King  by  the 
Treaty  of  Madrid. 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

to  the  Spanish  boat,  as  Francois  and  Henry  en- 
tered the  boat  which  had  come  from  France. 

On  the  French  bank  the  Queen  entered  her 
litter,  all  draped  with  cloth  of  gold,  and  placed 
the  princes  one  on  each  side  of  her.  Then, 
followed  by  her  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the 
ladies  riding  on  mules  with  velvet  trappings, 
the  Queen  and  the  princes  proceeded  by  torch- 
light to  St.  Jean-de-Luz.  It  was  a  goodly  com- 
pany, for  the  Queen's  escort  alone  mustered  six 
hundred. 

Late  at  night  as  it  was,  there  were  demon- 
strations of  joy  all  along  the  route,  and  when, 
close  upon  midnight,  the  company  entered  St. 
Jean-de-Luz,  they  found  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  village,  men,  women  and  children,  assembled 
to  greet  them,  and  so  many  torches  aburning 
that  it  seemed  more  like  noonday  than  midnight. 
On  all  sides  resounded  the  cries,  "  France  !  Vive 
le  Roy  !  Vive  la  Reine  !  Vive  le  Dauphin  !  " 
And,  no  sooner  had  the  royal  procession  arrived 
than  a  messenger  was  despatched  to  carry  the  good 
news  of  the  coming  of  the  Queen  and  the  princes 
to  Bayonne.  Two  hours  later  another  messenger 
started  post  haste  for  Bordeaux,  to  bear  the  good 
tidings  to  King  Francis.  It  was  in  the  small 
hours  of  the  Saturday  morning,  at  2  a.m.,  that  the 
messenger  set  forth  ;  and  he  reached  Bordeaux 
at  seven  that  evening.  Margaret  was  with  her 
father   at   Bordeaux   when   the   welcome   tidings 

23 


Margaret  of  France 

were  received.  She  was  strongly  attached  to  her 
brothers  ;  and  her  heart  must  have  leapt  with 
joy  at  the  thought  of  seeing  them  again. 

But  travelling  was  difficult  in  those  days,  and 
especially  so  for  a  numerous  escort  encumbered 
with  much  baggage.  Moreover,  the  joy  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  towns  through  which  the 
travellers  passed  somewhat  delayed  their  progress. 
So,  although  the  Queen  and  the  princes  reached 
St.  Jean-de-Luz  at  midnight  on  Friday,  and 
although  they  travelled  hard,  rising  early  in  the 
morning  on  subsequent  days,  it  would  seem  to 
have  been  Thursday  before  Margaret  and  her 
brothers  were  reunited  at  Bordeaux. 

On  Wednesday,  the  last  day  of  their  journey, 
the  travellers  started  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  in  order  that  they  might  reach  Mont- 
de-Marsan  that  evening.  For  there  the  King, 
having  come  out  from  Bordeaux,  awaited  them. 
Francis  was  impatient  to  greet  his  bride,  and  to 
see  the  sons  from  whom  he  had  so  long  been 
parted.  No  sooner  had  the  King  received  the 
travellers  at  Mont-de-Marsan  than  he  conducted 
them  to  the  Abbey  of  Verrieres  outside  the  town. 
And  there  instantly,  with  an  impatience  recalling 
Napoleon's  on  the  arrival  in  France  of  Marie 
Louise,  he  had  the  royal  nuptials  celebrated  at 
nightfall. 

On  the  following  day,  Thursday,  the  7th  of  July, 
the  party  proceeded  to  Bordeaux,  where  Francois 

24 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

and  Henry  were  received  by  their  sisters  Margaret 
and  Madeleine.  And  by  no  means  the  least 
pleased  to  see  "  her  little  doctors  "  once  again 
must  have  been  their  grandmother,  Louise,  who 
also  awaited  them  at  Bordeaux.  For  the  Queen- 
Mother  had  much  of  the  tigress  in  her  nature. 
When  her  malice  was  aroused,  to  friend  or  foe 
no  one  could  be  more  deadly  :  in  order  to  win  the 
Connetable  de  Bourbon,  whom  she  had  loved, 
she  had  hesitated  at  nothing  :  to  satisfy  her 
craving  for  luxury  she  scrupled  not  to  dip  her 
hand  into  the  exchequer  of  the  realm,  and  so  to 
bring  disgrace  on  the  army  of  her  son.  And  yet, 
to  those  within  her  family  circle,  with  the  one 
exception  of  Queen  Claude,  she  was  all  love  and 
tenderness.  There  never  was  a  more  passionate 
mother  or  a  fonder  grandmother,  at  any  rate  as 
far  as  her  grandsons  were  concerned. 

With  the  young  princes  returned,  as  we  have 
said,  their  governor,  M.  de  Brissac,  and  his  wife. 
In  their  train  also  was  the  eldest  son  of  M.  and 
Mdme  de  Brissac,  Charles  de  Cosse,  who  had 
been  with  the  princes  during  the  last  few  months 
of  their  captivity. 

To  see  these  friends  again  must  have  delighted 
Margaret  almost  as  much  as  the  return  of  her 
brothers.  Mdme  de  Brissac,  who  was  her  gouver- 
nante,  Margaret  adored.  Ma  mere  she  always 
called  her.  And  Mdme  de  Brissac's  eldest  son 
had  from  the  cradle  been  Margaret's  playfellow 

25 


Margaret  of  France 

and  friend,  a  gallant  young  knight,  le  beau  Brissac 
he  was  called,  to  whom  Margaret  looked  up  as  to 
an  elder  brother. 

With  his  usual  magnificence,  King  Francis 
maintained  a  numerous  and  expensive  retinue 
for  his  children.  Even  before  Margaret's  birth, 
the  staff  of  the  King's  nursery  numbered  two 
hundred  and  forty  persons  ;  and  we  may  be  sure 
that  on  Margaret's  advent  it  was  appropriately 
increased.1 

Over  this  household  presided  M.  and  Mdme  de 
Brissac.  And  the  Brissac  children  were  brought 
up  with  the  young  princes  and  princesses.  No 
doubt  all  these  young  people  were  interested  in 
and  proud  of  the  exploits  of  le  beau  Brissac. 
His  handsome  mien  and  his  fine  raiment  were  the 
theme  of  more  than  one  foreign  ambassador's  pen. 
The  Venetian  ambassador,  Alvarotto,  told  how 
in  hooded  cape  of  green  velvet,  falling  over  a 
corselet  beautifully  gilt,  with  hat  of  green  silk 
decked  with  white  feathers,  and  bearing  a  lance 
of  ash,  from  which  floated  green  and  white 
streamers,  Brissac  had  tilted  before  the  King  and 
Queen. 

On  the  battlefield  Brissac  was  as  brilliant  as  in 
the  lists.  "  Were  I  not  Dauphin  I  would  be 
Colonel  Brissac,"  exclaimed  Henry,  when  Charles 

1  L'Abbe  Ch.  Marchand,  Vie  de  Charles  I  de  Cosse,  Comte  de 
Brissac  et  Marechal  de  France  (1889),  p.  8. 

26 


)  .ox.11       U 


c 


1 


: 


l  :uioir 


CHARLES    HI.    COSSE,    MARECHAL    DE    BRISSAl 
Irom  a  drawing  by  Frani  ois  Clouet,  at  <  'hantilly 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

de  Cosse  effected  a  difficult  capture  of  artillery 
at  the  siege  of  Perpignan  in  1541.1 

In  love  as  well  as  in  war  le  beau  Brissac  carried 
all  before  him.  La  Duchesse  d'Etampes  and 
Diane  de  Poitiers,  the  mistress  of  Francis  I  and 
the  mistress  of  Henry  II,  were  said  to  have  been 
among  his  conquests.  And  "  inevitable  human 
malignity,"  in  the  person  of  Brant ome,  the  greatest 
scandalmonger  of  the  age,  has  bracketed  his  name 
with  that  of  our  Margaret.  Brant  ome  goes  so  far 
as  to  hint  that  Margaret  was  the  mother  of  a 
natural  child  born  to  Brissac  before  he  became 
governor  of  Piedmont.2  But  nowadays  no  serious 
historian  pays  any  attention  to  Brantome.  He 
is  now  known  to  have  merely  gathered  up  all  the 
gossip  of  the  court.  His  stories  are  often  nothing 
but  old  anecdotes  revived  and  re-spiced  by  being 
told  of  the  great  personages  of  his  day.3  When 
slandering  Margaret,  Brantome  has  to  admit  that 
he  only  writes  from  hearsay.  Of  the  truth  of  this 
story  he  has  no  evidence  to  give,  and  neither  has 
anyone  else  ;  for  we  do  not  find  it  even  referred  to 
by  any  other  contemporary  writer. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  do  find  that  Margaret  was 
the  devoted  friend  of  Brissac's  somewhat  neglected 
wife,  Charlotte  d'Esquetot,  and  that,  when  Char- 
lotte's husband  sent  her  back  from  Italy  to  France 

1  This  was  after  the  death  of  Francois,  Henry's  elder  brother. 
*  Brantome,  CEuvres  Completes  (ed.  Lalanne),  IX,  p.  85. 
3  See  Lavisse,  Hist,  de  France,  Vol.  V,  Part  II,  p.  262. 


Margaret  of  France 

to  be  confined,  it  was  Margaret  who  endeavoured 
to  find  her  a  nurse,  and  consulted  on  the  subject 
her  friend,  Madeleine  de  Montmorency,  Madame 
la  Connetable.  The  choice  of  a  nurse  was  a 
matter  which  no  one,  not  even  the  greatest 
personage  in  those  days,  thought  beneath  his 
notice.  And  Margaret  in  her  letter  to  La  Conne- 
table is  very  explicit  as  to  the  nurse's  qualifica- 
tions. She  must  be  between  twenty-five  and 
thirty,  healthy,  virtuous,  of  a  placid  disposition 
and  her  own  child  must  not  be  more  than 
six  or  seven  months  old.  We  find  also  that 
both  Margaret  and  Brissac  were  proud  of  their 
friendship  with  each  other.  After  her  marriage, 
when  asking  Brissac  to  render  her  husband  a 
political  service,  Margaret  reminds  him  "  of  the 
kindness  with  which  it  hath  ever  been  my  desire 
to  treat  you  and  yours."1  Brissac,  writing  to  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  openly  boasts  of  the  innumerable 
favours  which  Margaret  has  bestowed  on  "those 
of  my  house  and  on  me  in  particular."  2  This 
sentence  alone  is  surely  sufficient  to  prove  that 
in  the  friendship  of  Margaret  of  France  and 
Charles  de  Cosse  there  was  nothing  that  was 
censurable.  One  modern  French  writer  dismisses 
this  scandal  with  the  remark  that  if  Margaret  had 
a  weakness  it  must  have  been  her  love  of  Greek, 

1  Bib.  Nat,   F.F.  20451. 

2  Boyvin  de  Villars.    Memoir es  (ed.  Mich,  et  Poujoulet),  i™e 
sene,  X.  (1838),  p.  342. 

28 


Margaret  and  her  Family  Circle 

which  she  spoke  fluently.1  Perhaps  more  con- 
clusive is  the  testimony  of  Michel  de  l'Hospital, 
who  being  no  flatterer,  and  knowing  our  princess 
much  more  intimately  than  Brantome,  addresses 
her  thus  :  "  Victorious,  thro'  the  midmost  flames 
of  passion,  dear  maid,  untarnished,  you  make  your 
way."  2 

1  Bourciez,  Les  Mceurs  Polies  et  la  Literature  de  Cour  sous 
Henri  II,  p.  190. 

2  Michel  de  l'Hospital,  CEuvres  Computes  (ed.  Dufey),  Vol.  Ill, 
chap.  vi.  For  this  translation  and  for  several  others  from  the 
Latin  of  l'Hospital  I  am  indebted  to  Miss  Constance  White. 


29 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY   INFLUENCES 

The  Coming  to  France  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  and  Margaret's 
Affection  for  her — Their  education  together — The  Moral 
Atmosphere  of  the  Court — The  Death  of  the  Dauphin — 
Sickness  at  Fontainebleau — An  Autumn  Party  at  Chatillon- 
sur-Loing. 

"  And  in  any  wyse  a  man  muste  so  fashyon  and  order  hys 
conditions,  and  so  appoint  and  dispose  him  selfe,  that  he  be  merie, 
iocunde,  and  pleasaunt  amonge  them,  whom  eyther  nature  hathe 
provided,  or  chance  hath  made  ...  to  be  the  felowes,  and 
companyons  of  f^s  life." — Sir  Thomas  More. 

FOND  of  her  stepdaughters  as  Queen 
Eleonore  appears  to  have  been,  she 
took  little  interest  in  their  education, 
which  after,  as  before,  the  Queen's 
marriage  was  left  to  the  superintendence  of 
Margaret  of  Angouleme,  now  Queen  of  Navarre. 
The  eldest  Margaret's  first  husband,  the  Duke 
of  Alencon,  had  died  only  a  few  weeks  after  the 
Battle  of  Pavia,  for  which  disaster  he  had  been 
held  partly  responsible.  His  wife  and  his  mother- 
in-law,  Louise,  could  never  forgive  him  for  having 
failed  to  prevent  the  capture  of  their  "  Caesar," 
as    they    called    their    adored    Francis.      Indeed 

3° 


Early  Influences 

in  Margaret's  heart  her  husband  had  ever  held 
a  very  inferior  place  to  her  brother.  The  marriage 
had  been  one  of  convenience,  as  most  marriages 
were  then.  And,  though  Margaret  tenderly 
cared  for  the  Duke  until  his  death,  she  was  not 
heart-broken  at  his  loss. 

Her  second  marriage,  with  Henry  d'Albret, 
King  of  Navarre,  which  took  place  in  1527, 
was  much  more  of  a  love-match  than  her  first 
marriage  had  been.  Nevertheless,  even  Henry 
by  no  means  unseated  Francis  from  his  throne 
in  his  sister's  heart.  And  a  good  deal  of  jealousy 
ensued. 

Soon  after  the  return  of  the  two  princes  a 
new  scholar  was  introduced  into  the  royal  school- 
room. In  1533,  Henry  Duke  of  Orleans,  then  a 
boy  of  fourteen,  was  married  to  the  Florentine 
princess,  Catherine  de  Medicis,  who  was  about 
the  same  age,   they  both  having  been  born  in 

1519- 

From  the  first  our  Margaret  and  her  sister- 
in-law  became  fast  friends  ;  and  their  affection 
endured  throughout  their  lives.  Catherine  never 
forgot  Margaret's  kindness  when  almost  everyone 
in  her  new  home  seemed  to  be  against  her.  Indeed 
in  many  respects  Catherine's  position  at  the 
court  of  King  Francis  suggests  that  of  Marie 
Antoinette  at  the  court  of  Louis  XV  more  than 
two  centuries  later.  Both  the  young  brides  were 
about  the  same  age.     In  both  cases  the  marriage 

31 


Margaret  of  France 

was  unpopular  with  the  court  and  with  the 
nation,  and  was  rendered  even  more  so  by  the 
childlessness  of  the  young  couple  during  the 
early  years  of  their  married  life.  In  both  cases 
the  court  and  the  nation  expressed  their  dislike 
of  the  union  by  unkindly  treating  the  bride. 

It  was  in  those  days  that  Catherine  learned 
to  practise  that  art  of  dissimulation  which  she 
was  to  use  with  so  fatal  an  effect  in  after  years. 
Surrounded  by  those  who  suspected  and  detested 
her,  she  dared  never  be  herself,  and  she  was 
driven  by  fear  to  feign  a  liking  for  persons  whom 
she  loathed. 

From  the  first,  however,  the  King  and  his 
sister,  as  well  as  the  young  Margaret,  proved 
exceptions  to  the  general  rule  at  court.  The 
elder  Margaret,  like  her  niece,  took  the  lonely 
girl  to  her  heart  ;  and,  when  Catherine  was 
reproached  for  not  bearing  an  heir  to  the  French 
crown,  bade  her  take  courage  from  the  fact 
that  the  women  of  the  Medici  family  never 
bore  children  in  early  life.  King  Francis  too  made 
a  friend  of  his  little  daughter-in-law,  who  became 
much  more  of  a  companion  to  the  King  than 
either  of  his  own  daughters,  Madeleine  or  Margaret. 
For  Catherine,  whose  birthplace  was  Florence 
and  whose  grandfather  was  Lorenzo  di  Medici, 
reminded  Francis  of  Italy,  that  home  of  sensitive 
souls,  for  which  he  was  ever  pining.  She  was 
not  pretty,  but  she  had  wit,  intelligence  and  a 

32 


Early  Influences 

good  figure.  She  was  fond  of  books — especially 
when  they  were  richly  bound — good  at  games, 
a  graceful  dancer,  a  clever  horsewoman  and  an 
ingenious  one  withal,  for  she  invented  the  side- 
saddle in  order  to  show  off  her  well-formed 
ankle. 

And  so,  when  the  King  went  ahunting,  he 
generally  chose  Catherine  for  a  companion.  And 
she,  entertaining  him  with  her  gay  and  humorous 
conversation,  became  as  necessary  to  Francis  as 
the  artistic  masterpieces  of  her  fellow-townsmen, 
as  any  frescoes  by  Rosso  or  as  even  the  great  salt- 
cellar of  Benvenuto  Cellini.  Accordingly,  when, 
after  the  death  of  Catherine's  kinsman,  Pope 
Clement  VII,  to  gain  whose  alliance  the  marriage 
had  been  mainly  devised,  it  was  suggested  that 
the  young  Florentine  should  be  divorced  and 
sent  back  to  her  native  city,  Francis  rejected  the 
proposal  with  scorn. 

And  not  long  afterwards  we  find  that  Catherine 
had  overcome  the  dislike  of  her  own  husband  and 
of  his  two  brothers.  For,  in  1535,  the  Venetian 
Ambassador,  Giustiniano,  wrote  that  "  the  Dau- 
phin and  her  husband,  as  well  as  the  King's 
youngest  son,  seem  very  fond  of  her."  x  She, 
however,  unlike  Marie  Antoinette,  never,  as 
long  as  she  lived,  succeeded  in  winning  the  hearts 
of  the  French  nation  ;  for  Catherine  had  neither 

1  Baschet,  Diplomatic  Venitienne  :  Les  Princes  de  I'Europe  au 
XVItime  Siecle,  p.  469. 

d  33 


Margaret  of  France 

the  charm  nor  the  beauty  of  Louis  XVI's  Austrian 
bride. 

Margaret  of  Angouleme,  like  every  disciple 
of  the  New  Learning,  believed  in  an  all-round 
education.  Domestic  pursuits,  physical  culture, 
the  arts  and  classical  studies,  all  alike  found  a 
place  in  the  curriculum  to  which  she  subjected  her 
youthful  nieces,  Margaret,  Madeleine  and  their 
sister-in-law,  Catherine.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
stitchery  played  an  important  part  in  the  educa- 
tion of  all  young  girls  ;  it  was  thought  to  keep 
them  out  of  mischief,  and  was  carried  to  such 
a  degree  of  perfection  that  it  became  a  fine  art, 
with  the  needle  for  brush  and  silks  of  every  hue 
for  pallet.  The  first  Margaret  executed  marvels 
of  embroidery,  some  of  which  may  be  seen  to- 
day, and  her  niece,  according  to  Ronsard,  was 
a  veritable  Arachne. 

"  Aucunefois  avec  ses  damoiselles 
Comme  une  fleur  assise  au  milieu  d'elles, 
Guidoit  l'aiguille,  et  d'un  art  curieux 
Joignoit  la  soye  a  Tor  industrieux 
Dessus  la  toille,  ou  sur  la  gaze  peinte 
De  fil  en  fil  pressoit  la  laine  teinte 
En  bel  ouvrage,  et  si  bien  l'agencoit 
Que  d'Arachne  le  mestier  effacoit."  x 

In    physical    exercises,    in    horsemanship,    in 
dancing    and   in   swimming,    Margaret,    like    all 

1  Le  Bocage  Royal,  see  Ronsard,  CEuvres  Computes  (ed.  Blanche- 
main),  III,  p.  347. 

34 


Early  Influences 

Renaissance  girls,  was  instructed,  and  in  music 
too,  for  we  read  that  she  became  a  skilful  player 
on  the  lute.  Neither,  in  those  days,  were  manners 
forgotten.  In  the  sixteenth  century  numerous 
Civilites  or  codes  of  etiquette  were  published 
and  addressed  chiefly  to  children.  The  most 
famous  was  that  written  in  Latin  by  no  less  a 
personage  than  Erasmus  and  translated  into 
French  by  Pierre  Saliat,  in  1530.  Seeing  that 
Margaret  of  Angouleme  and  Erasmus  were  friends 
and  correspondents,  it  is  probable  that  the 
Civilite  of  Erasmus  would  be  the  one  which 
Margaret  would  choose  for  her  niece. 

According  to  whatever  Civilite  Margaret  was 
educated  she  did  it  credit,  becoming  renowned 
for  the  delicacy  and  daintiness  of  her  table 
manners.  We  must  confess,  however,  that  the 
standard  of  those  days  was  not  a  high  one,  as 
we  may  learn  from  La  Civilite  of  Erasmus,  wherein 
diners  are  advised  that,  when,  through  the  handling 
of  meat,  fingers  grow  greasy,  it  is  more  polite 
to  wipe  them  on  the  table-cloth  than  to  cleanse 
them  in  one's  mouth  or  by  rubbing  them  on  one's 
clothes.  Forks  in  those  days  were  not  j  spoons 
were  used  and  knives  occasionally. 

The  men  of  the  New  Learning  were  doing 
something  to  inculcate  personal  cleanliness  and 
to  dissipate  the  mediaeval  idea  that  saintliness 
must  involve  filth.  The  Civilites  gave  the  child 
minute  directions  as  to  how  to  wash  itself.    But 

35 


Margaret  of  France 

the  Church  still  looked  askance  on  this  pagan 
mania  for  bathing  and  Catholic  preachers  thun- 
dered against  "  these  fatal  washings  so  fertile 
in  deadly  sins." 

Touching  the  classical  studies  of  the  Renaissance 
no  one  was  better  fitted  to  prescribe  a  curriculum 
for  her  nieces  than  Margaret  of  Angouleme. 
She  herself,  under  her  mother's  influence,  had 
early  been  imbued  with  a  love  for  good  letters. 
Having  learnt  Latin,  Spanish  and  Italian  in 
childhood,  in  later  years  she  taught  herself 
Greek  and  studied  Hebrew  with  the  great  teacher, 
Paul  Paradis.  As  a  girl,  she  had  been  permitted 
to  browse  at  will  among  the  treasures  of  her 
father's  great  library  at  Angouleme.  And  from 
the  many  cares  of  after  life  she  looked  back  with 
delight  to  the  long  days  when  she  might  pore 
undisturbed  over  mediaeval  romance  and  Italian 
epic  ;  and  of  the  books  which  were  the  companions 
of  her  girlhood  she  wrote  : 

"  I  piled  a  pillar  of  them  and  methought 
They  heaven  and  earth  together  brought."  1 

Adoring  her  aunt  as  she  did,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  our  Margaret  should  have  imbibed  her 
passion  for  letters  and  should  even  have  surpassed 
her  in  scholarship.  The  three  most  learned 
women  of  the  century  were  Margaret  of  Angou- 

1  See  Les  Prisons  (ed.  Abel  Lefranc). 
36 


Early  Influences 

leme,  Renee,  Duchess  of  Ferrara,1  and  Margaret 
of  Savoy.  But  the  last  was  the  most  learned  of 
the  three.2 

In  those  days  every  little  girl  learned  Latin  ; 
it  put  the  finishing  touch  to  her  charms.  But 
Margaret  learned  also  Italian  and  Greek,  and 
in  no  perfunctory  manner  ;  for  the  Venetian 
Ambassador,  Cavalli,  wrote  that  she  attained 
to  complete  mastery  over  the  three  tongues ; 
and  all  her  life  she  continued  to  use  the  know- 
ledge thus  gained.  In  after  years  it  became  her 
delight  to  read  the  works  of  Plutarch  in  the 
original  with  their  great  translator,  Amyot, 
and  to  discuss  the  Ethics  of  Aristotle  with  her 
Italian  friend,  the  Florentine  poet,  Baccio  del 
Bene. 

It  was  a  Renaissance  custom  for  boys  and 
girls  up  to  a  certain  age  to  be  taught  together. 
Margaret  of  Angouleme  and  her  brother  Francis 
had  learned  side  by  side.  And  it  is  probable 
that  our  Margaret  shared  the  lessons  of  her 
brothers  and  learned  Latin  from  their  tutor, 
Benedictus  Tagliacarnus,  the  author  of  eloquent 
Latin  poems,  who  had  once  been  Secretary  to 
the  Republic  of  Genoa.  Margaret's  Greek  teacher 
we  know  to  have  been  Pontronius,  from  whom 

1  Daughter  of  Louis  XII,  sister  to  Queen  Claude,  and  conse- 
quently our  Margaret's  aunt. 

2  Le  Laboureur  in  his  Additions  to  Les  Memoires  of  Castelnau, 
I,  p.  706. 

37 


Margaret  of  France 

she  continued  to  learn  long  after  her  childhood's 
days  were  over.  When  Margaret  was  Duchess 
of  Berry  and  the  patroness  of  letters  at  her 
brother's  court,  we  find  Michel  de  1' Hospital 
writing  to  ask  Pontronius  whether,  amidst  her 
man}'T  cares,  the  Princess  still  delights  in  the 
society  of  Cicero,  Virgil,  Horace  and  all  the  princes 
of  Latin  literature.1 

Following  the  fashion  of  her  day,  Margaret's 
favourite  Latin  author  was  Cicero.  L' Hospital 
tells  how  readily  and  with  what  unfailing  memory 
she  would  introduce  into  her  conversation  quota- 
tions chosen  from  the  very  heart  of  Cicero's 
works.  The  poems  of  Horace  furnished  her  with 
after-dinner  philosophy.  But  1' Hospital  advised 
her  to  read  that  poet  warily.  "  Keep  that  wretch 
Horace  at  arm's  length,"  he  wrote.  "And  if 
any  passage  meets  your  eyes  unworthy  of  your 
maidenliness  .  .  .  pass  by  and  shun  it  with  the 
skill  with  which  formerly  the  wise  Ulysses 
avoided  the  alluring  songs  of  the  Sirens,  the 
shore  of  Circe  or  the  madness  of  Scylla."  2 

L' Hospital  here  showed  a  respect  for  the 
young  person  which,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
was  very  rare  and  not  at  all  in  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  French  court.  Whether 
the  extremely  free  manners  and  morals  of  those 
days  proceeded  from  naivete  or  from  corruption 

1  Michel  de  l'Hospital,  CEuvres  (ed.  Dufey),  Lib.  I,  p.  24. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  96. 

38 


Early  Influences 


we  cannot  undertake  to  say.1  But  it  seems 
evident  that  at  the  court  of  King  Francis  it  was 
not  unusual  for  a  woman  at  her  toilet  to  be  waited 
on  by  a  valet  instead  of  by  a  maid,  and  for  her 
to  think  nothing  of  undressing  and  retiring  to 
her  couch  in  the  presence  of  a  company  of  male 
and  female  visitors.  Nothing  more  forcibly 
illustrates  this  absolute  freedom  between  the 
sexes  than  the  conversations  between  men  and 
women  in  the  Heptameron. 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  was  troubled  with 
none  of  V Hospital's  scruples.  She  took  the 
younger  Margaret  at  a  very  early  age  into  her 
confidence.  And  at  her  niece's  request,  so  the 
Queen  tells  us,  she  penned  the  somewhat  risque 
tale  of  Diana's  nymphs  pursued  by  the  satyrs, 
pleading  that  if  blame  there  be  her  niece's 
shoulders  must  bear  it,  "Margaret  must  excuse 
Margaret."2 

"  Mais  tout  ainsi  comme  je  l'entendis, 
De  mot  a  mot,  ma  Dame,  le  vous  dis, 
Et  vous  scavez  que  lors  vous  pleut  me  dire 
Et  me  prier  de  la  vouloir  escrire  : 
Ce  prier  la,  qui  m'est  commandement, 
Ha  fait  la  fin  et  le  commencement. 
Puis  que  je  sens  d'obeir  satisfait 
Le  mien  desir,  je  dy  que  j'ay  bien  fait. 
Si  faulte  y  ha,  qui  payera  l'amende 

1  See  Lavisse,  Hist,  de  France,  Vol.  V,  Part  II,  p.  262. 

2  L'Histoire  des  Satyres  et  Nymphes  de  Diane  (ed.  Felix  Frank), 
III,  p.  199. 

39 


Margaret  of  France 

Ou  celle  la  qui  telle  oeuvre  commande, 

Ou  celle  qui  obeit  sans  excuse  ? 

Vous  done,  ma  Dame,  envers  laquelle  j'use 

Tant  seulement  de  vraye  obeiissance, 

Et  qu'scavez  quelle  est  mon  impuissance, 

Devez  porter  le  mal  que  je  merite, 

Et  Marguerite  excuse  Marguerite. 

II  me  suffit  et  seray  bien  contente, 

Mais  que  croyez  vostre  tres  humble  tante 

N'estre  jamais  de  vous  obeir  lasse, 

Et  la  tenir  en  vostre  bonne  grace." 

That  Margaret  of  Angouleme  should  have 
openly  declared  so  frank  a  poem  to  be  written 
at  her  young  niece's  request  was  thoroughly  in 
keeping  with  the  spirit  of  a  court  where  young 
girls  were  expected  to  see  and  to  hear  everything. 

Le  gros  rire,  la  grosse  gaietc  and  practical  joking 
of  a  doubtful  character  were  the  order  of  the  day. 
And  no  one  was  fonder  of  indulging  in  it  than  the 
Queen  of  Navarre. 

Students  of  the  Heptamcron  know  how  fre- 
quently the  first  Margaret,  under  some  slight 
disguise,  relates  events  that  really  happened 
at  court.  In  one  of  her  stories x  she  tells  how  a 
"  lady  of  excellent  wit,"  at  the  court  of  King 
Francis,  played  a  trick  on  her  lover  and  invited 
"the  Lady  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  King,"  to 
take  part  in  it.  There  is  little  doubt  as  to  who 
"  the  lady  of  excellent  wit  "  was  and  no  doubt 
at  all  as  to  "  the  Lady  Margaret  "  whose  identity 

1  N onvelle  xvin. 
40 


Early  Influences 

is  fixed  by  her  description  as  "  the  daughter  of 
the  King/' 

The  gentleman  who  was  the  victim  of  the 
lady's  raillery  may  well  have  been  Guillaume 
Goumer,1  Admiral  Bonnivet,  the  handsomest 
man  of  his  time,  who  from  his  youth  had  been 
one  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre's  most  ardent 
admirers.  In  the  castle  of  Amboise,  Francis, 
Margaret  and  Guillaume  had  all  been  brought 
up  together — Gouffier  was  the  son  of  Artus 
Gouffier,  governor  of  the  young  Francis,  then 
Count  of  Angouleme.  And  the  names  of  the 
first  Margaret  and  Guillaume  Gouffier  came  to 
be  associated  much  in  the  same  way  as  later  our 
Margaret's  name  was  coupled  with  that  of  Charles 
de  Cosse,  Comte  de  Brissac.  The  Queen  of 
Navarre's  relations  with  Bonnivet,  however,  were 
probably  much  more  amorous  than  were  those  of 
Margaret  II  with  the  Comte  de  Brissac.  The  two 
latter  were  doubtless  firm  friends,  but,  pace  Bran- 
tome,  it  is  unlikely  they  were  anything  more. 

On  his  accession  to  the  throne  Francis  did 
not  forget  the  friend  of  his  youth.  He  appointed 
him  Admiral  of  France  and  overwhelmed  him 
with  favours.  But  Bonnivet's  influence  over 
the  King  was  not  a  good  one  ;  he  encouraged 
him  to  devote  himself  to  pleasure  and  he  led 
him  into  all  kinds  of  rash  schemes.     Indeed  the 

1  1 488-1 525.  See  Brantome's  reference  to  this  tale,  CEuvres 
(ed.  Lalanne),  Vol.  IX,  pp.  388-90. 

4i 


Margaret  of  France 

defeat  and  capture  of  the  King  at  Pavia  x  has 
been  laid  at  the  Admiral's  door.  And  Bonnivet 
himself  may  have  realised  his  responsibility 
for  this  disaster  and  determined  not  to  survive 
it  ;  for,  courting  death,  he  rushed  into  the  heart 
of  the  melee  and  died  there  fighting. 

Bonnivet,  generally  by  some  other  name, 
but  sometimes  under  his  own,  figures  in  more 
than  one  of  the  Heptameron  stories,2  notably 
in  the  fourth  tale  which  tells  how  a  Lady  of 
Flanders,  who  was  doubtless  the  Queen  of  Na- 
varre, repulsed  him  and  punished  him  for  his 
boldness.  But  Margaret  had  another  score  to 
pay  off  on  her  lover  ;  she  bore  him  a  grudge 
for  occasionally  paying  his  addresses  to  other 
ladies.  And  the  following  story  relates  how 
she  took  her  revenge.  The  tale  arises  from  a 
conversation  among  the  ladies  and  gentlemen 
who  tell  the  Heptameron  stories  as  to  whether 
more  men  have  been  deceived  by  women  than 
women  by  men.  One  of  the  gentlemen  3  main- 
tains the  former  and  illustrates  his  contention  by 
this  tale. 

A  lady  of  excellent  wit  at  the  court  of  King 
Francis  had  many  admirers,  all  of  whom  she 
treated  so  pleasantly,  that  they  knew  not  what 
to  make  of  her,  so  that  the  faintest-hearted  took 
courage  and  the  boldest  were  driven  to  despair. 

1   1525.  2  See  Nouvelles  xiv  and  xvi. 

3  Simontault. 

42 


Early  Influences 

Nevertheless  there  was  one  whom  she  loved  and 
whom  she  called  her  cousin.  But  their  friendship 
not  infrequently  turned  to  wrath.  And  the 
gentleman  had  long  pressed  his  suit  without 
obtaining  any  encouragement. 

But  there  came  a  day,  when  the  lady,  pre- 
tending to  be  wholly  vanquished  by  pity,  promised 
to  grant  his  request.  She  told  him  that  with 
this  intent  she  would  go  into  her  room,  which 
was  on  a  garret  floor,  where  she  knew  there 
was  nobody.  And  as  soon  as  he  should  see 
that  she  was  gone,  he  was  to  follow  her  without 
fail. 

The  gentleman,  believing  what  she  said,  was 
exceedingly  well  pleased  and  began  to  amuse 
himself  with  the  other  ladies  until  he  should 
see  her  gone  and  might  quickly  follow  her. 
But  she  betook  herself  to  my  Lady  Margaret, 
daughter  of  the  King,  and  to  my  Lady  Margaret's 
friend,  the  young  Duchess  of  Montpensier,1  to 
whom  she  said  :  "  I  will,  if  you  are  willing,  show 
you  the  fairest  diversion  you  have  ever  seen." 
They,  being  by  no  means  enamoured  of  melan- 
choly, begged  that  she  would  tell  them  what  it 
was. 

1  Jacqueline,  daughter  of  Le  Seigneur  de  Longwy,  married 
in  1538  to  Louis  II  de  Bourbon,  Due  de  Montpensier.  The 
Duchess  was  Margaret's  lifelong  friend.  When  she  died  in  1561, 
Margaret  was  expecting  her  child,  and  Catherine  de  Medicis, 
writing  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  expresses  her  anxiety  as  to  the 
effect  the  news  will  have  on  Margaret's  health. 

43 


Margaret  of  France 

"  You  know  such  a  one,"  she  replied,  "  as 
worthy  a  gentleman  as  lives  and  as  bold.  You 
are  aware  how  many  ill  turns  he  has  done  me, 
and  that,  just  when  I  loved  him  best,  he  fell  in 
love  with  others,  and  so  caused  me  more  grief 
than  I  have  ever  suffered  to  be  seen.  Well, 
God  has  now  afforded  me  the  means  of  taking 
revenge  upon  him.  I  am  forthwith  going  to 
my  own  room,  which  is  overhead,  and  immedi- 
ately afterwards,  if  it  please  you  to  keep  watch, 
you  will  see  him  follow  me.  When  he  has  passed 
the  galleries  and  is  about  to  go  up  the  stairs, 
I  pray  you  come  both  to  the  window  and  help 
me  to  cry  '  thief.'  You  will  then  see  his  rage, 
which,  I  am  sure,  will  not  become  him  badly, 
and  even  if  he  does  not  revile  me  aloud,  I  swear 
he  will  none  the  less  do  so  in  his  heart." 

This  plan  was  not  agreed  to  without  laughter, 
for  there  was  no  gentleman  that  tormented  the 
ladies  more  than  he  did,  whilst  he  was  so  greatly 
liked  and  esteemed  by  all,  that  for  nothing  in 
the  world  would  anyone  have  run  the  risk  of 
his  raillery. 

It  seemed,  moreover,  to  the  two  princesses 
that  they  would  themselves  share  in  the  glory 
which  the  other  lady  hoped  to  win  over  this 
gentleman. 

Accordingly,  as  soon  as  they  saw  the  deviser 
of  the  plot  go  out,  they  set  themselves  to  observe 
the  gentleman's  demeanour.    But  little  time  went 

44 


Early  Influences 


by  before  he  shifted  his  quarters,  and,  as  soon  as 
he  had  passed  the  door,  the  ladies  went  out  into  the 
gallery,  in  order  that  they  might  not  lose  sight  of 
him. 

Suspecting  nothing,  he  wrapped  his  cloak  about 
his  neck,  so  as  to  hide  his  face,  and  went  down 
the  stairway  to  the  court  ;  but,  seeing  some  one 
whom  he  desired  not  to  have  for  witness,  he  came 
back  by  another  way,  and  then  went  down  into 
the  court  a  second  time. 

The  ladies  saw  everything  without  being 
seen,  and,  when  the  lover  reached  the  stairway, 
by  which  he  thought  he  might  safely  gain  his 
sweetheart's  chamber,  they  went  to  the  window, 
whence  they  immediately  perceived  the  other 
lady.  She  began  crying  out  "  Thief  "  at  the  top 
of  her  voice.  Whereupon  the  two  ladies  below 
answered  her  so  loudly  that  their  voices  were 
heard  all  over  the  castle. 

I  leave  you  to  imagine,  says  the  teller  of  the 
tale,  with  what  vexation  the  gentleman  fled  to 
his  lodgings.  He  was  not  so  well  muffled  as  not  to 
be  known  by  those  who  were  in  the  mystery.  And 
they  often  twitted  him  with  it  as  did  even  the 
lady  who  had  done  him  this  ill  turn,  saying  that 
she  had  been  well  revenged  on  him. 

This  tale  vividly  represents  the  moral  atmo- 
sphere of  the  court  in  which  Margaret  was  brought 
up  and  where  Boccaccio  was  the  favourite  author. 
The  Queen  of  Navarre  modelled  her  stories  on 

45 


Margaret  of  France 

those  of  the  Decameron.  And  Catherine  de  Medicis 
and  Margaret  tried  their  hands  at  imitating 
Boccaccio  too.  They  however  were  so  dissatis- 
fied with  their  attempts  that,  we  are  told,  they 
threw  them  into  the  fire.  And  this,  as  far  as  we 
know,  was  our  Margaret's  only  attempt  at  literary 
composition.1 

As  the  children  of  King  Francis  grew  up  they 
were  taken  from  the  chateaux  of  the  Loire  and 
from  Fontainebleau  to  join  in  the  perpetual 
wanderings  which  their  royal  father's  restlessness 
imposed  upon  his  court.  Whenever  Francis 
changed  his  place  of  residence  the  Queen,  the 
princes  and  the  princesses  with  their  whole  house- 
holds dutifully  followed.  Not  for  a  fortnight,  writes 
the  Venetian  ambassador,  did  the  French  court 
remain  in  the  same  place.  Like  a  huge  travelling 
town  its  crowd  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  on  horse- 
back and  in  litters,  with  carts  and  baggage- 
waggons,  was  for  ever  on  the  move.  As  the  century 
advanced  and  luxury  increased  so  did  the  encum- 
brances of  these  royal  journeyings.  Chateaux 
were  but  sparsely  furnished,  and  the  majority  of 
household  appurtenances  were  carried  by  the  court 
from  place  to  place.  Margaret's  gouvernante, 
Madame  de  Brissac,  refused  to  be  separated  from 

1  Miss  Edith  Sichel  (Women  and  Men  of  the  French  Re- 
naissance, 1903,  p.  344)  says  Margaret  wrote  sonnets  to  Du 
Bellay.  I  have  been  unable  to  discover  the  sonnets  or  any  other 
reference  to  them. 

46 


THE    DAUPHIN    FRANCOIS,    BROTHER    OF    MARGARET    OF    FRANCE. 
From  a  portrait  by  CorneitU  tit   Lyon  at  Chant  illy 


Early  Influences 

her  enormous  bed,  which  must  needs  be  borne  by 
several  mules  and  set  up  at  every  halting-place  as 
if  it  had  been  a  reliquary.  The  packing-cases  for 
Madame  de  Brissac's  couch  form  no  small  item  in 
Margaret's  accounts.1  And  from  these  documents 
we  learn  that  one  day  the  mules  broke  down 
beneath  their  burden,  and  that  the  bed  was  left 
high  and  dry  by  the  roadside  until  a  friendly 
peasant  was  persuaded  to  give  it  harbourage  while 
means  were  devised  for  its  further  conveyance. 

Sometimes,  naturally,  sickness  and  death  would 
intervene  to  cry  a  halt  in  these  royal  wanderings. 
In  the  summer  of  1536,  a  terrible  and  sudden 
sorrow  befell  the  family  of  King  Francis.  At 
Lyon,  in  the  dog  days,  the  Dauphin,  having 
played  a  game  of  tennis,  drank  a  cup  of  icy  cold 
water  ;  he  died  a  few  days  afterwards.  Exactly 
the  same  thing  had  happened  years  before2  to 
Philip  the  Handsome,  the  father  of  the  Emperor, 
Charles  V.  But  in  those  days  all  sudden  deaths 
were  attributed  to  poison.  In  the  Dauphin's 
case,  Charles  V,  with  whom  Francis  I  was  then  at 
war,  was  said  to  have  instigated  the  crime.  Monti- 
cuculo,  the  Dauphin's  cup-bearer,  who  had  once 
been  in  the  Emperor's  service,  was  accused  of 
having  administered  the  poison  in  the  cup  of  cold 
water.     In  the  torture-chamber  the  cup-bearer 

1  See  Les  Depenses  de  Marguerite  de  France  en  1549,  Bib. 
Nat.,  F.F.  10394,  Fo.  227. 

2  In  1506. 

47 


1 


Margaret  of  France 

admitted  his  guilt,  and  it  was  in  vain  that  he 
afterwards  withdrew  his  confession.  He  was  con- 
demned to  suffer  the  most  horrible  death  ever 
inflicted  even  in  that  age  of  refined  cruelty.  With 
bare  head  and  feet,  clad  only  in  his  shirt,  he  was 
dragged  on  a  hurdle  round  the  town,  holding  in 
his  hands  a  lighted  torch  and  crying  for  mercy 
and  pardon  to  God,  to  the  King  and  to  justice. 
Then,  arrived  at  the  place  of  execution,  having 
witnessed  the  burning  of  some  of  the  poison  he 
was  said  to  have  used  and  of  the  cup  in  which  he 
was  supposed  to  have  administered  it,  his  body 
was  torn  asunder  by  four  horses. 

The  Emperor  not  unnaturally  resented  the  im- 
putation to  him  of  so  dastardly  a  deed,  especially 
because,  as  his  minister,  the  Seigneur  de  Granvelle, 
pointed  out,  he  could  have  had  no  object  whatever 
in  committing  it.  Beyond  the  confession  of  Monti- 
cuculo,  made  under  the  influence  of  torture  and 
afterwards  retracted,  there  is  no  reason  for  asso- 
ciating Charles  V  with  the  Dauphin's  death,  which 
is  now  generally  believed  to  have  been  due  to 
pleurisy. 

The  King  had  conceived  mighty  hopes  and  a 
great  opinion  of  his  son.  It  was  long  before  he 
could  recover  from  his  death.  When  he  heard  the 
news,  writes  Guillaume  du  Bellay,1  Francis  heaved 
a  sigh  so  deep  that  it  was  heard  in  the  next  room, 

1  Memoires  (ed.  Michaud  et  Poujoulat,  1838),  ii&e  s6rie,  V, 
p.  396. 

48 


Early  Influences 

and  without  uttering  a  word,  turned  his  face 
away  and  looked  out  of  the  window. 

In  the  summer  of  the  next  year  (1537),  the 
court  was  at  Fontainebleau.  And  there,  writes 
the  Queen  of  Navarre,1  many  were  attacked  by 
a  curious  malady,  "  long  and  violent  at  the  out- 
set," but  not  fatal.  Queen  Eleonore  and  Catherine 
de  Medicis  were  the  first  to  succumb.  Then  the 
elder  Margaret  unwittingly  led  her  niece  into  a 
hot-bed  of  infection.  She  took  her  out  from 
Fontainebleau  to  visit  the  King's  winepress.  And 
there  they  were  told  by  a  peasant  woman,  the 
wife  of  one  Janot,  that  all  her  husband's  servants 
were  stricken  with  the  fever ;  but  they  were 
in  a  sure  way  to  recover,  added  the  woman,  for 
they  were  being  treated  with  an  infallible  remedy, 
one  compounded  of  garlic,  onions,  high  meat  and 
cold  water.  When,  on  her  return,  our  Margaret 
promptly  fell  ill  of  the  same  fever,  we  trust  that 
her  physician,  Dr.  Burgensis,2  prescribed  for  her 
a  physic  less  nauseous  than  the  nostrum  of 
Madame  Janot. 

At  any  rate,  Margaret  soon  recovered.     And, 

1  Lettves,  I,  p.  357. 

2  Burgensis  or  Louis  de  Bourges  (1482-1556)  belonged  to  a 
family  of  famous  doctors.  His  father,  Jean  de  Bourges,  was 
physician  to  Charles  VIII  and  to  Louis  XII.  Louis  de  Bourges 
was  doctor  to  three  kings,  Louis  XII,  Francis  I,  and  Henry  II. 
He  is  said  to  have  caused  the  release  of  Francis  I  from  captivity 
at  Madrid  by  representing  to  Charles  V  that  his  prisoner  was  on 
the  point  of  dying,  and  so  cheating  the  imperial  captor  out  of 
ransom.    Biographte  Universelle,  s.v.  Bourges. 

E  49 


Margaret  of  France 

when  all  the  invalids  were  convalescent,  the  court 
fled  from  the  infected  Fontainebleau  to  the  castle 
of  Chatillon-sur-Loing.  There  for  a  fortnight  they 
were  entertained  by  the  brilliant  Louise  de  Mont- 
morency, sister  of  the  Grand-Maitre  and  mother 
of  the  famous  Gaspard  de  Coligny,  who  was  to 
become  Admiral  of  France  and  to  perish  on  the 
eve  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

Coligny,  who,  in  1537,  was  but  a  youth  of 
eighteen,  remained  one  of  Margaret's  lifelong 
friends.  Eight  years  later,  on  the  death  of  her 
youngest  brother,  Charles  Duke  of  Orleans,1  it 
was  Coligny  who  was  deputed  to  break  to  her 
the  sad  news.  Of  more  cheerful  tidings  he  was 
the  messenger  fourteen  years  later  still  when  he 
came  to  tell  his  friend  that  the  negotiations  at 
Cateau-Cambresis  were  terminated  and  that  she 
was  the  affianced  bride  of  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
Duke  of  Savoy.  For  this  service  Margaret  repaid 
him  after  her  marriage  by  persuading  her  husband 
to  restore  to  Coligny  a  part  of  his  patrimony  which 
was  situated  in  Savoy  and  had  been  lost  in  the 
wars. 

The  Montmorencys  knew  well  how  to  entertain, 
and  at  Chatillon  there  was  right  good  cheer.  But 
two  of  that  merry  party  were  oppressed  with  care 
and  anxiety.  Public  affairs  weighed  heavily  on 
the   King   and   on   his   Grand-Maitre.     For  evil 

1  He  died  at  Forest-Moustier,  near  Abbeville,  of  fever,  on 
the  8th  of  September,  1545,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three. 

50 


Early  Influences 

tidings  were  reaching  them  from  the  south  of 
France  and  from  Italy  :  the  French  troops  had 
mutinied  and  were  threatening,  if  arrears  of  pay 
were  not  immediately  forthcoming,  to  sack  Lyon  ; 
the  imperial  army  had  regained  most  of  the  con- 
quests made  by  France  in  Piedmont  during  the 
previous  year  and  were  then  besieging  Turin  and 
Pinerolo,  the  only  towns  which  France  retained. 

Francis  and  Montmorency  put  their  heads  to- 
gether and,  as  the  result  of  their  counsels,  word 
was  sent  to  the  Cardinal  of  Tournon,  the  King's 
lieutenant  in  the  south,  to  borrow  money  from  the 
Florentine  bankers,  to  squeeze  as  much  out  of  them 
as  possible,  and  therewith  to  pay  the  French  troops. 
Meanwhile  Louise  de  Montmorency's  party  was 
hastily  broken  up  :  Margaret  and  the  ladies  of  the 
court  returned  to  the  chateau  of  Fontainebleau, 
which  was  thought  after  the  lapse  of  a  fortnight 
to  be  free  from  infection,  while  the  King  and  his 
Grand-Maitre  made  for  the  south.  At  Lyon  they 
parted,  and  Montmorency  crossed  the  Alps  to 
conduct  in  Piedmont  one  of  those  brutal  and 
ruthless  campaigns,  which,  when  they  were  fought 
against  the  Huguenots,  won  for  him  the  title  of 
Brule-bancs.  In  the  previous  year  (1536),  when 
the  Emperor  had  invaded  Provence,  Montmorency 
had  starved  him  out  by  spreading  fire  and  devasta- 
tion through  the  land.  The  poor  peasants,  com- 
manded to  leave  their  homes  and  take  refuge  in 
the  towns,  found  that  not  only  the  villages  but 

51 


Margaret  of  France 

the  towns  also  were  to  perish.  Everything  was 
ruined,  burned,  destroyed.  "  A  terrible  sight," 
writes  a  contemporary  witness.  Montmorency, 
meanwhile,  had  entrenched  himself  in  a  strongly 
fortified  camp.  And  the  Spaniards,  threatened 
with  starvation,  had  been  compelled  to  retreat. 
But  the  French,  too,  were  dying  of  hunger.  And 
the  result  of  Montmorency's  scheme  of  defence 
involved  in  ruin  a  whole  province  of  France. 

Now,  in  the  autumn  of  1537,  as  the  Grand- 
Maitre  and  his  army  marched  down  through  the 
Susa  Pass  into  the  plain  of  Piedmont,  his  course 
was  attended  by  brutal  cruelty.  Everywhere  in 
his  train  the  gibbets  were  busy  and  no  quarter  was 
allowed.  But  the  Spaniards  were  driven  from 
Turin  and  Pinerolo,  and  Piedmont  was  recon- 
quered. In  October  Francis  and  Charles  came  to 
one  of  those  numerous  inconclusive  agreements,1 
which  left  most  of  the  crucial  points  in  dispute 
to  be  settled  by  future  warfare. 

But  for  Montmorency  the  campaigns  of  1536 
and  1537  were  by  no  means  inconclusive.  They 
raised  Margaret's  bon  pere  to  the  pinnacle  of  his 
power.  They  made  him  Constable,  and  for  the 
next  five  years  almost  King  of  France. 

1  The  truce  was  signed  at  Moncon  on  the  1 6th  of  November. 


52 


CHAPTER  III 

LOVE   AND    MARRIAGE    IN    THE    FAMILY   OF 
KING   FRANCIS 

The  great  matches  of  the  sixteenth  century — James  V  of  Scotland 
and  the  daughters  of  King  Francis — James's  Marriage  with 
Margaret's  sister,  Madeleine — The  Death  of  Madeleine — 
Matrimonial  Schemes  for  Margaret — Charles  V's  Visit  to 
France — The  Death  of  Francis  I. 

A  A 

"  .  .  .  O  amans,  O  pucelles, 

Fines  moi  ce  finet  Amour  qui  tient  des  ailes, 

En  lui  donnant  la  vie,  il  va  donnant  la  mort." 

Marc  Claude  de  Buttet. 

IN  the  sixteenth  century — and  indeed  in  other 
centuries — the  chief  use  of  Kings'  daughters 
was  to  serve  as  pawns  in  the  political  game. 
Vast  were  the  consequences  which  followed 
and  were  intended  to  follow  royal  marriages.1 
We  all  know  how  a  series  of  such  unions  brought 
half  Europe  under  the  sway  of  the  Austrian 
house  in  the  person  of  Charles  V.  We  know 
too  how  from  the  cradle  and  even  before  birth  2 
princesses  were  offered  and  promised  first  to 
one  husband  then  to  another  ;  how  from  the  stage 


1  See  Sir  J.  R.  Seeley,  Gvowth  of  British  Policy  (1895),  I,  n. 
'  Maulde  la  Claviere,  Les  Femmes  de  la  Renaissance,  p.  39. 

53 


Margaret  of  France 

of  pap  and  swaddling  clothes  they  were  affianced, 
nay,  even  married  by  proxy  many  times  over. 

The  high  mortality  among  wives  of  royal 
princes  in  this  century  gave  full  scope  for  these 
matrimonial  dealings.  Leaving  out  of  account 
our  bluebeard,  Henry  VIII,  Francis  I  of  France 
and  James  V  of  Scotland  were  twice  married, 
Louis  XII  of  France  had  three  wives,  Philip  II 
of  Spain  four,  while  the  prolonged  widowerhood 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  V  1  gave  rise  to  perpetual 
proposals  of  matrimony  from  every  court  in 
Europe. 

There  was  hardly  a  princess  who  at  one  time 
or  other,  either  before  or  after  the  Emperor's 
marriage,  had  not  been  promised  or  betrothed 
to  Charles  V.  Both  Louis  XII's  daughters, 
Claude  and  Renee,  had  been  promised  to  him. 
Each  of  Louis'  granddaughters,  Louise,  Charlotte, 
Madeleine  and  our  Margaret,  was  in  turn  affianced 
to  the  Emperor.  And  in  between  there  were 
negotiations  for  his  marriage  with  their  aunt, 
Margaret  of  Angouleme.  While  in  England  all 
the  while  Charles  was  regarded  as  the  affianced 
husband  of  Princess  Mary,  despite  the  bridal 
ceremonies  which  had  some  years  earlier  united 
her  by  proxy  to  the  infant  Dauphin,  son  of  King 
Francis  I. 

The  great  matches  of  the  century  were,  in  its 

1  The  Empress,  Isabella  of  Portugal,  died  in  1539,  and  the 
Emperor  remained  unmarried  until  his  death  in  1558. 

54 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

first  half,  Charles  V,  Henry  VIII  and  James  V, 
later  Edward  VI,  Philip  II  and  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  Duke  of  Savoy.  Francis  I,  married 
early  to  Claude  and  soon  after  her  death  be- 
trothed to  Eleonore  of  Portugal,  whom,  after 
a  few  years'  delay,  he  married,  was  never  in  a 
position  to  have  many  caps  set  at  him.  After 
1530,  the  matrimonial  adventures  of  Henry  VIII 
caused  a  union  with  that  monarch  to  be  con- 
stantly debated  in  European  courts.  The  first 
Margaret  was  twice  at  least  on  the  verge  of  being 
married  to  him.  How  would  the  union  of  two 
such  powerful  personalities  have  worked,  would 
Margaret  have  been  as  tactful  as  Catherine  Parr 
and  have  succeeded  in  surviving  her  husband, 
and  how  would  the  marriage  have  affected  the 
affairs  of  England,  are  among  the  useless  but 
interesting  "  might-have-beens  "  of  history. 

The  most  romantic  of  these  royal  suitors 
was  the  young  King  of  Scotland,  James  V.  This 
handsome  prince,  whose  flowing  golden  locks 
and  strong  yet  amiable  countenance,  Ronsard 
has  painted,  was  to  play  no  small  part  in  the  girl- 
hood of  our  Margaret  and  more  especially  of 
her  elder  sister,  Madeleine. 

In  childhood  James  had  been  promised  first 
to  Charlotte  and  after  her  death  to  Madeleine. 
In  manhood  he  hesitated  between  Madeleine 
and  Margaret,  but  it  was  eventually  Madeleine 
whom  he  married. 

55 


Margaret  of  France 

The  doings  of  this  gallant  prince,  the  son  of 
James  IV  who  had  fallen  at  Flodden  and  of 
Margaret  Tudor,  the  sister  of  Henry  VIII,  Mar- 
garet and  Madeleine  must  have  frequently  dis- 
cussed. For  this  young  King  of  Scotland  during 
twenty-five  years,  from  his  birth  in  1512  until 
his  first  marriage  in  1537,  English,  French  and 
Spanish  diplomatists  were  busy  planning  matri- 
monial alliances.  Yet,  despite  so  many  rivals, 
Madeleine  from  her  early  days  confidently  re- 
garded herself  as  James's  bride  ;  she  was  de- 
termined to  be  Queen  of  Scotland.  Many  a 
time  must  her  hopes  have  been  threatened  with 
disappointment.  For,  when  promised  to  King 
James,  she  was  but  a  year  old  and  she  was  seven- 
teen when  she  married  him.  Through  those 
sixteen  years  many  another  wife  was  proposed 
for  James  and  many  another  husband  for  Made- 
leine. Her  health  was  delicate,  and  her  father 
soon  repented  of  his  decision  to  send  so  frail 
a  flower  to  the  barbarous  north.  Accordingly 
other  French  princesses  were  offered  to  King 
James,  our  Margaret,  Marie  de  Bourbon  the  Duke 
of  Vendome's  daughter,  and  Isabeau  d'Albret 
Queen  Margaret's  sister-in-law.  Madeleine  in 
her  heart,  if  we  may  judge  from  what  happened 
later,  remained  true  to  the  northern  suitor, 
whom  she  had  never  seen.  But  James  was  a 
Stewart,  therefore  an  ardent  lover  and  very 
susceptible  to  feminine  charms.     Madeleine  was 

56 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

a  mere  name  to  him.  Moreover  even  a  Stewart 
had  to  think  of  the  political  advantages  of  his 
marriage.  So  he  dallied  first  with  one  matri- 
monial scheme,  then  with  another.  At  one  time 
he  was  on  the  eve  of  espousing  his  cousin,  Mary 
Tudor.  Then  again  it  was  a  question  of  Princess 
Dorothy  of  Denmark  and  later  of  Catherine  de 
Medicis.  In  1535,  only  two  years  before  his 
marriage  with  Madeleine,  the  Emperor  gave 
him  the  choice  of  three  Marys  :  the  Emperor's 
own  sister,  Mary  the  widowed  Queen  of  Hungary, 
his  niece  Mary  of  Portugal  and  his  cousin  Mary 
of  England.  Just  then,  however,  James  was 
bent  on  a  French  alliance,  this  time  not  with 
Madeleine  but  with  Marie  de  Bourbon,  sister 
of  Antoine  de  Vendome,1  later  King  of  Navarre. 
His  reason  for  preferring  a  Duke's  to  a  King's 
daughter,  King  James  stated  somewhat  boldly 
in  a  letter  to  his  future  father-in-law,  the  Duke  of 
Vendome  : 

"  Through  long  years,"  he  writes,  "  we  have 
waited  for  Princess  Madeleine  de  Valois  to  be- 
come ripe  for  marriage,  thus  placing  at  the  mercy 
of  capricious  fortune  the  weal  of  our  realm  which 
dependeth  upon  the  birth  of  issue  begotten  by 
us.  Unhappily  Princess  Madeleine,  though 
brilliantly  gifted  in  every  other  respect,  is  of  so 
weak  a  constitution  that  there  is  little  hope  of 
her  ever  becoming  a  mother.     In  these  circum- 

1  He  married  Jeanne  d'Albret,  daughter  of  the  first  Margaret, 
and  Henry  d'Albret,  their  son,  was  Henry  IV. 

57 


Margaret  of  France 

stances,  the  King  of  France  desireth  not  any 
longer  to  curb  our  impatience  to  have  children  ; 
and  he  hath  offered  unto  me  the  hand  oi  your 
eldest  daughter,  whom  he  is  willing  to  adept."  l 

After  lengthy  negotiations  and  strorg  oppo- 
sition from  James's  uncle,  Henry  VIII,  who 
wanted  him  to  marry  his  daughter,  Princess 
Mary,  in  March,  1536,  the  marriage  contract 
of  the  King  of  Scotland  and  Marie  de  Bourbon 
was  drawn  up  and  signed  by  James's  representa- 
tive. 

But  no  sooner  was  he  bound  than  this  royal 
gallant  wished  to  be  free.  The  French  match 
irked  him  ;  and  he  determined  to  marry  a  subject, 
Margaret  Erskine,  the  daughter  of  a  Scottish 
noble,  Lord  Erskine,  who  had  for  some  years  been 
his  mistress.  But  there  were  difficulties  in  the 
way,  one  of  them  being  that  Margaret  Erskine 
happened  to  be  married  already.  The  King 
however  determined  to  obtain  her  divorce  from 
her  husband,  Sir  Robert  Douglas  of  Lochleven  ; 
and,  undaunted  by  the  experience  of  his  royal 
uncle  of  England,  James  appealed  to  the  Pope, 
Paul  III,  to  dissolve  the  marriage  of  Lady  Douglas. 
The  Pope  refused.  And  then  the  fickle  James 
speedily  consoled  himself  by  returning  to  Marie 
de  Bourbon. 

To  atone  for  the  slight  he  had  offered  the  lady, 

1  See  Edmond  Bapst,  Les  Mariages  de  Jacques  V  (1889),  p.  248. 

58 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

the  King  resolved  to  pay  her  a  very  high  honour 
and  one  most  unusual  in  those  days,  although 
his  example  was  to  be  followed  in  the  next 
century  by  his  great-grandson  Prince  Charles  of 
England.  James  determined  to  go  to  France 
and  to  conduct  his  wooing  in  person.  Concealing 
his  design  from  the  Scottish  nobles  and  even 
from  his  mother,  he  secretly  set  sail  for  the  land 
of  his  betrothed.  But  winds  and  waves  were 
against  him.  The  little  fleet  was  soon  caught 
in  a  storm  ;  the  ships  were  scattered  ;  and  the 
royal  vessel  so  sore  beset  that  its  captain 
taking  advantage  of  the  young  King's  being  asleep 
reversed  their  course  and  returned  to  Scotland. 
James,  much  to  his  surprise,  woke  up  to  find 
himself  in  Galloway  instead  of  in  France.  Now 
he  had  to  make  a  clean  breast  of  his  intentions 
to  his  mother  and  to  the  royal  council.  But 
they  could  not  persuade  him  to  abandon  the 
enterprise.  And,  after  making  a  pilgrimage  to 
Our  Lady  of  Loretto,  near  Musselburgh,  he  again 
set  out  from  Scotland  on  September  ist,  1536. 
This  time  he  had  a  large  following — seven  vessels, 
five  hundred  men  and  several  leaders  of  the 
nobility.  Our  Lady  of  Loretto  was  kind,  the 
elements  were  favourable  ;  and  this  time,  after 
a  prosperous  voyage,  the  expedition  landed  at 
Dieppe  on  the  10th  of  September.  No  sooner 
had  the  King  of  Scotland  touched  the  gay  land 
of  France  than  he  abandoned  all  royal  state  and 

59 


Margaret  of  France 

resumed  his  role  of  knight-errant.  Disguising 
himself  as  the  squire  of  one  of  his  own  retainers, 
John  Tennant,  and  accompanied  by  ten  men,  he 
set  out  on  horseback  to  visit  his  betrothed.1 

Marie  de  Bourbon  dwelt  with  her  father  in 
the  Castle  of  St.  Quentin  in  Picardy,  of  which 
province  the  Duke  of  Vendome  was  governor. 
Marie  was  not  to  be  deceived  by  any  incognito. 
She  treasured  a  portrait  of  her  royal  suitor ; 
and  so  well  had  she  studied  his  features  that  she 
speedily  penetrated  his  disguise  and  hailed  the 
squire  in  the  lower  hall  as  King  of  Scotland. 
By  the  Duke,  James  was  royally  received,  and 
with  brilliant  festivities  entertained  at  St.  Quentin 
for  a  week.  But  the  devoted  Marie  de  Bourbon 
had  no  charms  for  the  King,  and  he  left  St. 
Quentin  resolved  never  to  marry  her. 

Marie,  however,  was  now  the  adopted  daughter 
of  the  King  of  France,  and  James  must  needs 
settle  accounts  with  Francis  ere  he  returned 
to  Scotland.  The  two  kings  met  at  a  village 
called  La  Chapelle,  not  far  from  Roanne,  in 
central  France.  And  there  James  received  a 
right  royal  welcome.  Francis  was  himself  too 
much  a  light  o'  love  not  to  sympathise  with  a 
young  man's  caprices  and  he  bore  James  no 
grudge  for  throwing  over  Marie  de  Bourbon, 
whom    he    graciously    offered    to    provide    with 

1  Miss  Strickland,  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  Scotland,  Vol.  I  (1850), 
p.  290. 

60 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

another  husband,  suggesting  a  certain  Marquis 
de  Pont-a-Mousson.  But  Mademoiselle  de  Bour- 
bon, refusing  to  be  compensated  with  a  marquis 
for  the  loss  of  a  king,  remained  unmarried  until 
her  death,  which  occurred  not  long  afterwards. 

Encouraged  by  the  reception  he  had  received 
from  his  royal  host,  James  boldly  asked  for  the 
hand  of  one  of  his  daughters,  either  Madeleine 
or  Margaret.  And  Francis  was  not  unwilling 
to  grant  his  request.  But  Henry  VIII  was  the 
difficulty.  Francis  could  not  afford  to  offend 
the  English  King  who  might  aid  the  Emperor 
in  the  invasion  he  had  now  undertaken  of  southern 
France.  And  so,  in  order  to  sound  Henry  on 
the  question  of  James's  marriage  with  a  French 
princess,  an  ambassador,  La  Pommeraye,  was 
despatched  to  the  English  court.  And  until  his 
return  Francis  took  care  that  James  should  not 
meet  the  princesses. 

When  the  ambassador  came  back,  although 
he  had  to  report  Henry's  persistent  disapproval 
of  the  marriage,  he  could  assure  Francis  that 
he  need  fear  no  active  interference  from  the 
English  King,  who  had  his  hands  full  with  the 
Pilgrimage  of  Grace. 

There  was  now  no  reason  why  James  should 
not  be  presented  to  the  princesses.  Madeleine 
and  Margaret  were  at  Amboise  and  doubtless  on 
the  tip-toe  of  excitement,  devoured  by  curiosity 
to  see  the  romantic  suitor  of  whose  adventures 

61 


Margaret  of  France 

they  cannot  have  been  ignorant.  James  at  La 
Chappelle  had  expressed  a  willingness  to  take 
either  of  the  princesses  in  marriage.  As  soon 
as  he  reached  Amboise  he  changed  his  mind,  and 
decided  that  Madeleine  and  none  other  than 
Madeleine  should  be  his  bride.  Margaret  was 
but  a  child  of  thirteen ;  Madeleine,  two  years 
her  senior,  had  attained  the  most  marriageable 
age,  so  the  Renaissance  deemed  it ;  moreover 
she  was  beautiful  with  a  loveliness  enhanced  by 
the  hectic  flush  and  the  transparent  complexion 
which  foreshadowed  her  doom.  James,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  handsome,  just  the  gallant  golden- 
locked  knight  of  whom  Madeleine  had  dreamed. 
The  young  people  fell  in  love  at  first  sight  and 
succeeded  at  length  in  winning  from  the  reluctant 
Francis  his  consent  to  their  marriage.  The  King 
would  have  greatly  preferred  Margaret  to  have 
been  Queen  of  Scotland ;  for  he  feared — and 
rightly  so,  as  subsequent  events  proved — the 
effect  of  the  northern  climate  on  Madeleine's 
delicate  health. 

The  marriage  contract  was  signed  at  Blois. 
The  wedding  took  place  at  Paris,  in  the  cathedral 
of  Notre  Dame,  "  with  great  pomp  and  triumph 
and  glory,"  on  New  Year's  Day,  1537.  The 
bride  wore  white  damask  embroidered  in  gold, 
and  among  the  many  great  ladies  who  attended 
her  was  her  sister  Margaret.  A  whole  week  of 
jousting    and    junketing    followed.      And    when 

62 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

the  week  was  over  James  showed  no  desire  to 
return  to  his  kingdom  ;  and  Madeleine  was  only 
too  glad  to  linger  among  her  own  people  ;  she 
had  always  longed  to  be  Queen  of  Scotland, 
but  she  showed  no  desire 

"  D'aller  parmy  les  Escossois," 

of  whose  language,  according  to  the  old  song, 
she  understood  not  one  word  or  one  syllable.1 
The  departure  of  the  King  and  Queen  was  still 
further  prolonged  by  the  illness  which  befell 
the  latter  at  Rouen.  And  it  was  not  until  the 
19th  of  May  that,  after  a  stormy  passage  and 
some  risk  of  being  captured  by  English  vessels, 
they  landed  at  Leith. 

James's  hopes  had  been  realised  and  there 
was  a  prospect  of  an  heir.  But  barely  had  the 
Queen  touched  Scottish  soil,  than  she  again  fell 
ill.    The  hand  of  death  was  upon  her. 

"A  peine  elle  sautoit  en  terre  du  navire 
Pour  toucher  son  Escosse,  et  saluer  le  bord, 
Quand  en  lieu  d'un  royaume  elle  y  trouva  la  mort." 

sang  Ronsard,2  who,  as  page  to  King  James, 
accompanied  Madeleine  on  her  journey  to  Scot- 
land. 

1  Je  n'y  entents  mot  ne  demy.  Chanson  Nouvelle,  Faicte  sur 
le  Department  de  la  [Royne  d' Escosse,  No.  xxxiv  in  Recueil  de 
Chants  Historiques  Francais.    Le  Roux  de  Lincy  (1842). 

2  CEuvres  (ed.  Blanchemain),  VII,  p.  180. 

63 


Margaret  of  France 

After  six  months  of  marriage  the  Queen  died 
at  Holyrood,  on  July  7th,  1537. 

The  news  of  her  sister's  death  came  as  a  terrible 
shock  to  Margaret.  So  deeply  did  she  grieve 
that  she  began  to  grow  pale  and  thin,  and  her 
aunt,  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  trembled  lest  she 
should  share  her  sister's  fate.  So  the  elder  Margaret 
persuaded  her  niece  to  come  for  long  walks  in 
the  Park  at  Fontainebleau  ;  and,  by  means  of 
this  healthy  exercise  having  succeeded  in  coaxing 
some  colour  back  into  the  young  girl's  cheeks, 
the  Queen  could  write  to  Montmorency  that 
Margaret  was  beginning  to  grow  quite  bonny 
again.1 

From  her  cradle  Margaret,  like  her  sisters, 
had  been  the  centre  of  perpetual  matrimonial 
projects.  Like  her  aunt,  the  Queen  of  Navarre, 
she  twice  narrowly  escaped  being  married  to 
Henry  VIII.  The  first  proposal  came  from 
the  French  court  in  1536,  on  the  death  of  Catherine 
of  Arragon.  And  then  a  necessary  preliminary 
to  the  marriage  would  have  been  the  annulling 
of  Henry's  existing  union  with  Anne  Boleyn. 
The  second  proposal  came  from  Henry  himself 
after  the  death  of  Jane  Seymour.  But  the 
execution  of  Anne  Boleyn  was  fresh  in  the  mind 
of  King  Francis,  to  whom  a  wife-murderer 
seemed  hardly  a  suitable  husband  for  his  daughter. 
Moreover  the  King  had  other  plans  for  Margaret. 

1  Lettres  de  Marguerite  d'Angouleme,  I,  360. 

64 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

And  she  had  views  of  her  own.  For  by  now  she 
had  reached  that  most  marriageable  Renaissance 
age  of  fifteen.  Like  her  sister,  Madeleine,  she 
was  ambitious.  And  so  when,  in  1543,  Antoine 
Duke  of  Vendome,1  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal, 
sued  for  her  hand,  she  rejected  him  proudly, 
saying  :  "I  will  never  marry  a  subject  of  the 
King,  my  father."  And  indeed,  wrote  the  Vene- 
tian ambassador,  a  princess  "  so  wise,  so  modest, 
so  good,  so  gifted  was  worthy  of  the  greatest 
prince  on  earth."  In  her  choice  of  a  husband 
Margaret  had  good  reason  to  be  ambitious ; 
wherefore,  on  her  father's  death,  she  was  "  still  to 
marry." 

In  the  lifetime  of  Francis,  however,  a  marriage 
scheme  was  broached  for  Margaret  which  must 
have  gratified  even  her  ambition.  The  Empress, 
Isabella  of  Portugal,  died  in  1539.  In  that  year 
there  happened  to  be  a  lull  in  the  long  duel 
between  Hapsburg  and  Valois.  In  the  previous 
year  there  had  been  a  question  of  marrying 
Margaret  to  the  Infant  Philip.  Now  Francis 
suggested  that  the  Emperor  himself  should  be 
the  bridegroom.  And  just  at  this  juncture  the 
imperial  city  of  Ghent  revolted  and  it  became 
convenient  to  Charles  to  travel  from  Spain 
through  France  to  the  Netherlands.  The  Em- 
peror's visit  seemed  to  offer  an  excellent  oppor- 

1  Afterwards  the  husband  of  Jeanne  d'Albret  and  King  of 
Navarre. 


Margaret  of  France 

tunity  for  discussing  the  marriage.  But,  while 
gratefully  accepting  the  hospitable  invitation  of 
the  King  and  of  his  daughter  to  pass  through 
France,  Charles  shrewdly  stipulated  that  no 
negotiations,  matrimonial  or  otherwise,  should 
be  opened  as  long  as  he  was  on  French 
soil. 

We  have  no  reason  for  believing  that  he  ever 
seriously  thought  of  marrying  Margaret.  In 
the  event  of  a  settlement  with  France,  he  in- 
tended her  either  for  his  son  Philip,  his  nephew 
Ferdinand,  or  his  brother-in-law,  Don  Luis  of 
Portugal. 

The  Emperor's  stipulation,  however,  failed  to 
daunt  Montmorency,  that  most  inveterate  of 
matchmakers,  especially  where  "his  good  daugh- 
ter "  Margaret  was  concerned.  And  if  Charles 
might  not  be  approached  on  the  matter  of  his 
marriage,  there  was  no  reason  why  the  subject 
should  not  be  discussed  with  his  minister.  Con- 
sequently Montmorency  travelled  post-haste  to 
Gascony,  where,  at  Mont-de-Marsan,  he  met  the 
Emperor's  Chancellor,  Nicolas  de  Perrenot,  Seig- 
neur de  Granvelle,  who  had  left  Madrid  ten  days 
before  his  master. 

To  Granvelle  Montmorency  sang  Margaret's 
praises.  He  extolled  her  virtues  at  the  expense 
of  the  other  court  ladies.  He  described  her  as 
a  rose  among  thorns,  as  an  angel  among  fiends. 
But  all  to  no  purpose.    For  the  Chancellor  coldly 

66 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

replied  that  as  far  as  he  knew  the  Emperor  had 
no  thought  of  marrying  again. 

Neither  did  the  Emperor's  journey  through 
France  serve  to  forward  Margaret's  cause.  The 
French  laid  themselves  out,  as  only  Frenchmen 
can,  to  royally  entertain  their  royal  guest.  But 
Charles  was  in  no  mood  for  gaiety.  Never  of 
a  cheerful  disposition,  he  was  then  peculiarly 
melancholic,  grieving  over  the  recent  death  of 
his  clever,  fascinating  wife,  anxious  about  the 
revolt  of  his  great  Flemish  city  and  suffering 
from  a  heavy  cold. 

The  elaborate  festivities  which  attended  his 
journey  all  the  way  from  Bayonne  to  Valen- 
ciennes wearied  him  and  impeded  his  progress. 
Twice  he  was  in  danger  of  losing  his  life  :  at 
Amboise,  where  he  was  nearly  asphyxiated,  and 
a  few  days  later  when  he  was  nearly  stunned  by 
a  beam  falling  on  his  head  as  he  sat  at  dinner. 
Meanwhile  his  liberty  was  being  threatened  by 
the  plots  of  the  Duchess  of  Etampes,  the  King's 
mistress,  and  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  his  youngest 
son.  Many  thought  that  Charles's  presence  in 
France  was  too  good  an  opportunity  to  be  lost. 
And  Triboulet,  the  French  King's  jester,  present- 
ing his  master  with  a  list  of  the  Emperor's  fools, 
said  :  "If  the  Emperor  escape,  I  shall  include 
your  Majesty." 

Of  these  designs  against  his  liberty  Charles 
was  probably  not  unaware.     At  any  rate  he  did 

67 


Margaret  of  France 

his  best  to  propitiate  the  Duchess  of  Etampes, 
to  whom  he  presented  a  very  valuable  ring.1 

During  his  five  weeks'  journey  through  France 
— from  early  December,  1539,  until  the  middle 
of  the  following  January — Montmorency  was  the 
Emperor's  favourite  companion.  With  great  magni- 
ficence he  entertained  Charles  at  Chantilly.  And 
we  may  be  sure  that  he  never  lost  an  opportunity 
of  bringing  the  Emperor  and  Margaret  together. 

But  Montmorency's  schemes  met  with  no 
success.  For,  on  his  arrival  in  the  Netherlands, 
Charles  wrote  to  his  recent  host  :  "  We  pray 
the  King  to  renounce  the  project,  of  which  there 
has  been  question  since  our  journey  through 
France.  We  have  no  intention  of  marrying 
again  ;  and  we  are  moreover  too  old  for  Madam." 
The  Emperor  was  forty,  Madam  was  seventeen. 
Thus  were  all  hopes  of  an  imperial  alliance  for 
the  Princess  dashed  to  the  ground.  Charles 
held  to  his  resolve  not  to  take  a  second  wife. 
Soon  the  likelihood  of  Margaret's  having  any 
Spanish  husband  disappeared  ;  for  in  1543  Philip 
married  his  cousin,  Mary  of  Portugal.2 

1  It  was  probably  during  this  visit  that  the  Emperor  pre- 
sented Margaret  with  the  diamond,  which,  described  as  "  the 
gift  of  the  Emperor,"  figures  in  the  inventory  of  her  jewels, 
taken  at  Romorantin  in  1 5  59  (see  post  p.  216),  when,  as  the  bride  of 
the  Duke  of  Savoy,  she  was  on  her  way  to  join  her  husband 
at  Nice.  See  Archivio  di  Stato  at  Turin  (Gioje  e  Mobili,  1386- 
1631.    No.  4-1559). 

2  The  daughter  of  John  III,  King  of  Portugal,  and  Catherine 
of  Austria,  sister  of  Charles  V. 

68 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

The  last  years  of  her  father's  life  cannot  have 
been  very  happy  for  Margaret.  Her  friend, 
the  Constable,  through  his  failure  to  arrange 
a  settlement  with  the  Emperor,  had  fallen  into 
disgrace  and  retired  from  court.  After  1545, 
Henry  was  Margaret's  only  surviving  brother  ; 
and,  as  so  often  happens,  the  heir  -  apparent 
was  in  direct  opposition  to  the  King.  This 
estrangement  between  her  father  and  her  brother 
must  have  sadly  grieved  Margaret's  peace-loving 
soul.  The  court  was  now  divided  into  two  hostile 
parties.  Memoir  writers  of  the  day  refer  to 
certain  persons  as  "  of  Monsieur  le  Dauphin's 
following  "  or  as  "  the  favourites  of  Monsieur  le 
Dauphin."  Henry's  faction  was  closely  in  touch 
with  the  discredited  Constable  ;  and  this  circum- 
stance was  in  itself  enough  to  annoy  the  King. 
Margaret  was  too  diplomatic  to  overtly  espouse 
either  side  in  the  quarrel ;  but  we  suspect  that 
her  heart  was  with  her  brother  and  his  wife 
Catherine,  to  whom  she  was  passionately  at- 
tached, rather  than  with  the  King,  her  father, 
who  had  always  been  somewhat  of  a  stranger  to 
his  daughter. 

As  the  disease  from  which  Francis  had  suffered 
for  years  x  took  a  firmer  hold  upon  him,  his 
natural  restlessness  increased.  A  fortnight  was 
now  too  long  for  him  to  stay  in  one  place.  After 
a  few  days  he  grew  impatient  to  be  on  the  move. 

1  Probably  cancer. 
69 


Margaret  of  France 

And  when  not  actually  travelling,  he  was  wearing 
himself  out  in  chasing  the  deer  or  fowling  with 
the  falcon. 

To  one  of  Margaret's  studious  disposition 
this  perpetual  motion  must  have  been  very 
irritating.  Whenever  she  could  escape  from  sport 
she  loved  to  spend  her  afternoons  in  study.  And 
while  the  others  were  hunting  in  the  park,  she, 
like  Lad}^  Jane  Grey,  might  be  found  "  intent 
upon  learned  writings,  meditating  upon  the  obli- 
gations of  life,  the  traditions  of  old-world 
simplicity,"  those  wise  precepts,  which  hereafter 
she  was  to  turn  to  such  good  account. 

In  the  last  days  of  January,  1547,  tidings 
reached  the  French  court  of  the  death  of  King 
Henry  VIII.  He  and  Francis  were  near  of  an  age  : 
Henry  was  born  in  1491,  Francis  in  1494.  In  taste 
and  inclination  the  two  kings  were  alike.  In  war 
they  sometimes  had  been  enemies,  but  oftener 
friends  and  allies  against  the  overweening  power 
of  the  house  of  Austria.  To  Francis  the  King  of 
England's  death  was  an  omen  of  his  own  approach- 
ing end.  More  ardently  than  ever  did  he  plunge 
into  the  excitement  of  the  chase.  He  tore  from 
place  to  place,  from  Saint  Germain  to  Villepreux, 
from  Villepreux  to  Chevreuse,  from  Chevreuse  to 
Limours,  from  Limours  to  Rochefort  and  then 
back  to  Saint  Germain  again.  But  Saint  Germain 
was  never  reached.  On  his  way  he  halted  at 
Rambouillet,  intending  to  spend  five  or  six  days 

70 


Marriage  in  the  Family  of  King  Francis 

hunting  in  the  forest.  There  fever  seized  him, 
and  it  was  found  necessary  to  perform  an  opera- 
tion. But  the  clumsy  surgery  of  those  days  was 
powerless  to  save  the  King  j  and  ten  days  after 
the  operation,  on  the  31st  of  March,  1547,  he 
died.  Thus  passed  from  the  drama  of  European 
politics  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  second 
of  its  three  protagonists  ;  only  Charles  now 
remained.  This  is  not  the  place  to  judge  Francis 
as  a  king.  As  a  father,  at  least  as  a  father  of 
daughters,  he  may  be  found  wanting.  But  his 
last  illness  had  drawn  him  to  his  daughter  Mar- 
garet. On  the  day  of  his  operation  Margaret 
came  to  his  bedside  and  the  King  held  out  his 
hand  to  her,  saying,  Touches-la.  Then,  overcome 
by  love  and  sorrow,  unable  to  speak,  he  turned 
away  his  face.  Three  days  before  his  death, 
having  received  the  Sacrament,  the  King  called 
for  the  Dauphin,  to  whom  he  commended  his 
sister,  asking  him  to  be  a  father  to  Margaret.1 

Over  the  King's  death  Margaret's  loving  heart 
must  have  deeply  mourned.  Yet  hers  was  not 
the  passionate  grief  of  her  aunt,  the  Queen  of 
Navarre.  To  the  eldest  Margaret  in  her  blind 
devotion  her  brother  Francis  was  "  greater  than 
Solomon,"  "  bold,  wise,  valiant,  terrible  in  battle, 
strong  and  powerful." 

1  Guillaume  Marcel,  Histoire  de  I'Origine  et  des  Progrez  de  la 
Monarchic  Francaise  (1686),  IV,  373. 


7i 


CHAPTER  IV 

MARGARET  AT  THE  COURT  OF  HENRY  II 

Margaret's    Household — The    Duel    between    Jarnac    and    La 
Chataigneraie — Moulins     and     Lyon — Marriage     of     Jeanne 
'      d'Albret— Death  of  the  first  Margaret. 

"  On  peut  dire  .  .  .  qu'elle  n'eut  pas  un  moindre  partage  en 
France  que  le  Roy  Henry  second,  son  frere,  puis  qu'elle  regna 
sur  tous  les  esprits." — Le  Laboureur. 

MUCH  more  important  was  Margaret's 
position  at  court  during  the  reign  of 
her  brother,  Henry  II,  than  in  her 
father's  lifetime.  Madame  la  Sceur 
Unique  du  Roi,  as  she  was  called,  ranked  next 
to  the  King  and  Queen.  Foreign  ambassadors 
waited  on  Madam  Margaret  after  they  had  paid 
their  respects  to  Queen  Catherine.  Special  mes- 
sengers were  despatched  to  the  King's  sister  on 
the  conclusion  of  important  state  affairs. 

Margaret's  household  was  organised  on  a  scale 
magnificently  royal,  with  chaplains,  clerks,  secre- 
taries and  treasurers  to  say  nothing,  of  an  army 
of  domestics,  numbering  one  hundred  and  fifty 
souls  in  all,  to  whom,  in  the  year  1549,  Madam's 
treasurer,  Francois  Barguyn,  paid  in  wages  the 

72 


Photo,  Giraitdon 

KIM;    HENRY    II    OF    FRAN'   E 
From  a  portrait  by  Franfois  Clouet  in  the  Museum  <>/  the  Louvre,  Fans 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

sum  of  22,824  livres  tournois,  which  would  be 
about  £13,023  of  our  money.1 

Over  this  vast  household  Margaret  ruled  wisely ; 
with  self-restraint  and  equanimity.  Seldom  did 
her  lacqueys  and  her  maid-servants  see  her  in 
anger  ;  for,  like  a  philosopher,  she  knew  how  to 
prize  things  according  to  their  true  value  ;  when 
a  vase  was  broken  or  a  piece  of  furniture  damaged, 
says  her  Chancellor,  Michel  de  T Hospital,  she 
found  therein  no  occasion  for  wrath  ;2  and  so, 
beneath  the  sway  of  a  mistress  who  loved  quiet, 
the  servants  were  peaceable  and  the  household 
well  ordered. 

If  Margaret  erred  it  was  in  being  over-indulgent 
to  her  servants.  Her  gouvemante,  Madame  de 
Brissac,  thought  she  would  have  been  better  served 
had  she  been  a  little  more  severe  with  those  who 
waited  upon  her.  And  one  day  after  dinner 
Madam  spoke  seriously  to  Margaret  on  the  sub- 
ject. L'Hospital,  who  was  present,  took  Mar- 
garet's side.  By  being  often  forgiven  servants 
increase  in  value  and  in  attachment  to  their 
mistress,  he  said.  But  even  he  would  have  the 
princess  behave  with  less  lenience  to  those  place- 
hunters  who  thronged  her  ante-chamber  and 
seldom    went    away    with    empty    hands.3      The 

1  Les  Depenses  de  Marguerite  de  France  en  1549,  Bib.  Nat., 
F.F.  10394,  Fo.  227. 

2  Michel  de  l'Hospital,  CEuvres,  III,  Ep.  VI,  pp.  260-7. 

3  Ibid.,  Ep.  I,' pp.  81-85. 

73 


Margaret  of  France 

flattery  of  these  fawning-folk  he  knew  Margaret 
detested  and  he  pleaded  with  her  to  bid  the 
intruders  depart  like  drones  from  the  hive. 

At  court  Margaret  lived  in  close  intimacy  with 
the  King  and  Queen.  She  and  Catherine,  who  in 
childhood  had  been  playmates,  remained  through- 
out their  lives  the  closest  of  friends.  To  her 
brother,  despite  his  dull  reserve  and  heavy  taci- 
turnity, Margaret  was  always  devotedly  attached. 

Some  one  has  remarked  that  all  the  later 
Valois  kings  were  adored  by  their  wives.  They 
were  also  adored  by  their  sisters  :  Francis  I  by 
Margaret  of  Angouleme,  Henry  II  by  our  Mar- 
garet, and  Henry  III,  in  youth  at  least,  by  La 
Reine  Margot. 

How  far  the  three  Margarets  influenced  their 
respective  brothers  it  is  difficult  to  tell.  Probably 
the  influence  of  Margaret  of  Angouleme  was  the 
strongest.  L'Hospital  says  that1  our  Margaret 
won  Henry  from  pursuits  of  war  to  those  arts  of 
peace  loved  by  the  Muses.  But  not  for  long  did 
he  follow  the  Nine  ;  for  when  Henry  was  not 
fighting  on  the  battlefield,  he  was  generally  tilting 
in  the  lists  or  playing  tennis. 

With  no  great  ardour  did  Henry  return  his 
sister's  affection.  When  Margaret  wanted  to 
solicit  a  favour  from  him  she  used  to  resort  to 
Montmorency's    intercession.2      Notwithstanding 

1  Michel  de  1' Hospital,  (Euvres,  III,  Ep.  III. 

2  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3152/F0.  46. 

74 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

his  promise  to  be  a  father  to  his  sister,1  Henry  did 
not  scruple,  shortly  after  the  death  of  Francis, 
to  bestow  on  his  mistress,  Diane  de  Poitiers,  a 
certain  revenue  which  should  have  accrued  to 
Margaret.2  Consequently,  while  the  King's  mis- 
tress might  have  as  many  dresses  as  she  liked,  his 
sister  was  reduced  to  re-lining  her  old  petticoats 
and  to  turning  her  dresses  about  to  suit  changing 
fashions. 3 

In  the  welfare  of  her  nieces  and  nephews,  the 
King's  sister  took  as  deep  an  interest  as  her  aunt, 
the  first  Margaret,  had  done  in  her  own  upbring- 
ing. Over  the  studies  of  Henry's  children  our 
Margaret  presided.  She  it  was  who  chose  Amyot 
to  be  their  tutor.  And  in  their  illnesses  she 
nursed  them  tenderly. 

Two  of  her  autograph  letters4  refer  to  the  sick- 
ness of  one  of  her  nieces.  The  niece  was  probably 
Mary  Stuart,5  the  promised  wife  of  the  Dauphin 
Francis,  who,  having  come  to  reside  at  the  French 
court,  fell  ill  at  Fontainebleau  in  September, 
1556,  and  was  afterwards  removed  to  the  palace 

1  Ante  p.  71. 

2  La  Revue  Historique,  1877,  September  to  October.  Article 
by  Paillard,  p.  89. 

3  Depenses  de  Madame  Marguerite.  "  De  la  frise  noire  pour 
doubter  les  plis  d'une  robe  de  velours  noir  qui  a  ete  refaite.  .  .  . 
Pour  allonger  une  robe  deux  aunes  de  velours  noir." 

4  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3152,  Fos.  46  and  32. 

8  See  Appendix  A  for  the  original  French  of  these  letters  and 
for  the  justification  of  this  hypothesis. 

75 


Margaret  of  France 

of  her  uncle,  Charles,  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  at 
Meudon.  Margaret's  letters  are  addressed  to 
Catherine  and  to  Montmorency,  Constable  of 
France. 

To  Catherine  she  wrote  : 

"  Madam,  you  see  by  the  doctor's  letters  that 
Madam  your  little  girl  continues  to  improve.  It 
seems  to  me,  Madam,  that  we  may  hope  since  the 
eleventh  night  passed  without  a  return  [presumably 
of  the  fever]  that  the  fourteenth  will  pass  likewise. 
We  have  good  cause  to  praise  God.  For  my  part 
I  am  almost  as  thankful  as  when  he  cured  you  at 
Ginville  [Joinville].  Madam,  I  must  not  forget 
to  tell  you  that  at  her  worst  she  always  remem- 
bered the  King  and  would  never  drink  out  of 
any  cup  save  that  which  her  husband  gave  her. 
When  we  meet  I  shall  have  many  good  stories  to 
tell  you  of  her  sayings  ;  for,  ill  as  she  was,  when 
she  grew  angry,  she  could  not  have  been  prettier. 
Meanwhile,  Madam,  I  entreat  you  to  keep  me  in 
the  King's  good  grace,  and  very  humbly  I  com- 
mend myself  to  you.  Praying  God,  Madam,  to 
give  you  what  you  desire. 

"  Your  very  humble  and  very  obedient  sister 
and  subject  «  Margaret  of  France. 

"  To  the  Queen.'' 

It  was  probably  about  the  same  time  that 
Margaret  wrote  to  the  Constable  : 

"  Father,  yesterday  you  heard  by  the  doctors' 
letters  of  the  improvement  of  Madam  my  little 
niece,  in  which  state,  thank  God,  she  continues  as 

76 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

you  will  hear  from  Batisses  the  bearer  of  this  letter. 
On  him  I  depend  to  give  you  a  detailed  account  of 
this  matter  and  other  news  from  this  place.  It  is 
enough  for  me  to  thank  you  for  your  unfailing 
kindness,  especially  on  the  present  occasion ;  for 
I  know  that  it  was  you  who  persuaded  the  King 
to  send  me  here  [probably  to  the  palace  of  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine  at  Meudon],  and  that  it  was 
you,  whose  exaggeration  of  the  little  I  have  done 
for  my  niece,  procured  for  me  from  the  King  and 
Queen  thanks  far  greater  than  I  deserve." 

As  we  learn  from  this  letter,  Montmorency  had 
quitted  the  retirement  in  which  he  had  spent  the 
last  days  of  King  Francis  and  returned  to  that 
position  of  place  and  power  which  he  was  never 
to  relinquish  as  long  as  Henry  lived.  But  in  the 
King's  counsels  Montmorency  had  a  rival  :  Diane, 
the  King's  mistress,  was  determined  to  counteract 
the  Constable's  influence,  and  in  order  to  do  so 
she  allied  herself  with  Francois,  Duke  of  Guise  and 
with  his  brother  Charles,  Cardinal  of  Lorraine, 
the  two  ablest  statesmen  of  the  day.  In  the 
hands  of  these  politicians,  Henry,  who  detested 
politics,  was  as  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter. 
And  a  contemporary  rhymester  described  the 
situation  exactly  when  he  wrote  : 

"  Sire,  si  vous  laissez  comme  Charles  desire, 
Comme  Diane  fait,  par  trop  vous  gouverner, 
Fondre,  petrir  mollir,  refondre,  retourner, 
Sire,  vous  n'etes  plus,  .  .  .  vous  n'etes  plus  .  .  .  que  cire."  x 

1  See  La  Revue  Historique,  1877,  September-October,  p.  94. 

77 


Margaret  of  France 

The  long  series  of  brilliant  court  functions  which 
rilled  the  first  five  years  of  Henry's  reign  opened,  in 
1547,  "the  year  of  his  accession,  with  three  gorgeous 
pageants  :  on  the  22nd  of  May  the  state  funeral 
of  the  late  King  ;  on  the  10th  of  July  the  famous 
duel  between  Jarnac  and  La  Chataigneraie  ;  on 
the  24th  of  July  the  coronation  of  King  Henry  at 
Reims.  On  all  three  occasions  Margaret  was 
present,  but  it  was  on  the  second  that  she  played 
the  most  important  and  the  most  significant  part. 

The  duel  between  Guy  Chabot  de  Jarnac, 
Seigneur  de  Montlieu  and  Francois  de  Vivonne, 
Seigneur  de  la  Chataigneraie,  looms  large  in  con- 
temporary records  and  in  later  histories  ;  though 
many  of  the  accounts  differ  widely  in  detail.1 
However,  the  dispute  which  led  to  the  duel  is 
generally  admitted  to  have  been  an  old  score  left 
over  from  the  previous  reign,  from  the  later  years 
of  King  Francis  when  the  court  was  divided  into 
the  King's  faction  and  the  Dauphin's  faction, 
when  the  leader  of  the  one,  the  Duchess 
of  Etampes,  the  King's  mistress,  and  the  leader 
of  the  other,  Diane  de  Poitiers,  the  Dauphin's 
mistress,  hated  each  other  with  a  deadly  hatred. 
And  it  was  their  jealous  rivalry  which  found  ex- 
pression in  the  quarrel  between  Jarnac  and  La 

1  For  the  most  authentic  account  see  extracts  from  the 
History  of  Scipion  Dupleix  (i  569-1661)  in  Guillaume  Marcel's 
Histoire  de  I'origine  et  des  progrez  de  la  Monarchie  frangoise  (1686), 
PP-  395-406.  See  also  Brantome  (ed.  Lalanne),  V,  87;  Michelet, 
Histoire  de  France  (1852),  IX,  pp.  5-32. 

78 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

Chataigneraie.  The  former  was  the  brother-in- 
law,  some  said  the  lover,  of  the  Duchess.  The 
latter  was  of  the  Dauphin's  following  and  one  of 
Diane's  favourites.  A  slander  was  circulated 
against  Jarnac,  of  which  La  Chataigneraie  con- 
fessed himself  the  orginator  j  and  in  the  face  of 
Jarnac's  denial  La  Chataigneraie  maintained  his 
statement.  As  long  as  King  Francis  lived  Jarnac 
was  refused  permission  to  prove  in  the  lists  the 
falsity  of  the  slander.  But  as  soon  as  the 
King  died,  Diane,  eager  to  punish  her  rival  the 
Duchess  in  the  person  of  the  Duchess's  favourite, 
persuaded  Henry  to  let  La  Chataigneraie  send  a 
challenge  to  Jarnac.  On  the  23rd  of  April,  less 
than  a  month  after  the  old  King's  death,  Jarnac 
received  the  challenge  ;  and  the  duel  was  ap- 
pointed to  take  place  on  the  10th  of  July. 

All  kindly  souls  pitied  Jarnac  ;  for  La  Chataig- 
neraie was  renowned  as  the  greatest  duellist  of 
the  day.  Wonderful  stories  were  told  of  his 
prowess.  It  was  related  that  in  childhood,  fed  on 
powdered  gold  and  steel  and  iron,  he  had  taken 
a  wild  bull  by  the  horns  and  arrested  him  in  his 
flight.  Irascible  of  temper,  broad  of  build,  supple 
of  wrist  and  stout  of  limb,  none  could  stand 
against  La  Chataigneraie,  least  of  all  Jarnac,  who 
was  a  fashionable  court  gallant,  slim,  tall  and 
elegant.  Yet  there  remained  one  chance  for 
Jarnac  :  La  Chataigneraie,  as  the  result  of  a 
wound,  suffered  from  a  stiffness  in  one  arm  ;   and 

79 


Margaret  of  France 

Jarnac,  resolving  to  turn  this  weakness  to  his 
own  advantage,  took  lessons  in  sword  practice 
from  a  famous  Italian  duellist. 

In  its  support  of  the  combatants  the  court  was 
divided.  Margaret's  tender  heart  was  on  the 
side  of  the  knight  who  was  apparently  the  weakest ; 
and  she  warned  Jarnac  that  Diane  was  bent  on 
his  ruin  and  that  Henry  was  prepared  to  grant 
anything  to  his  mistress.  Margaret's  "  good 
father,"  the  Constable,  was  also  on  Jarnac's  side, 
and  so  also  was  the  head  of  the  Bourbon  house, 
Antoine  de  Vendome.  But  the  Guises  naturally 
followed  Diane  and  powerfully  supported  La 
Chataigneraie. 

With  that  passion  for  scenic  effect  which  ever 
characterises  the  French,  the  place  chosen  for  the 
duel  was  the  vast  plateau  of  Saint-Germain  which 
overlooks  the  broad  basin  of  the  River  Seine. 
There  by  early  dawn  on  the  morning  of  the  ioth  of 
July  a  great  crowd  had  assembled.  For  the  news 
of  the  duel  had  been  bruited  far  and  wide  ;  and 
from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  knights  and  squires 
had  flocked  to  Saint-Germain  curious  to  see  the 
new  King  and  eager  to  watch  the  opening  spectacle 
of  a  new  reign.  On  the  platform  erected  down 
each  side  of  the  lists  were  arrayed  the  gay  ladies 
of  the  court,  those  who  survived  of  La  Petite 
Bande  of  King  Francis  and  those  who  were  to 
figure  in  I'Escadre  Volatile  of  Queen  Catherine.  In 
the  front  row,  gravely  apprehensive,  sat  Margaret. 

80 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

At  six  o'clock  the  herald  announced  the  as- 
sailant's approach.  La  Chataigneraie  entered  the 
lists  with  great  noise  of  trumpets,  escorted  by  his 
companion-in-arms,  Francois  of  Guise,  and  by 
three  hundred  knights  of  La  Chataigneraie 's  com- 
pany, all  radiant  with  his  colours,  white  and 
scarlet. 

Having  passed  round  the  lists  and,  as  the 
phrase  ran,  "  honoured  the  field,"  La  Chataigne- 
raie returned  to  his  tent  there  to  remain  until 
half-past  seven,1  the  hour  appointed  for  the  com- 
bat. Jarnac  having  also  appeared,  "  honoured  the 
field  "  and  retired  to  his  tent,  the  supporters  of  the 
combatants  met  to  decide  on  what  arms  should  be 
used  during  the  fight.  After  a  lengthy  discussion 
this  crucial  point  was  settled  ;  and  then  the  heralds 
called  on  all  to  keep  silence  during  the  duel.  The 
combatants  now  appeared  in  the  lists  for  a  second 
time.  Again  they  "  honoured  the  field  "  ;  and,  as 
each  passed  the  King  he  took  an  oath,  swearing 
on  a  copy  of  the  Gospels  that  he  believed  his  cause 
to  be  just  and  that  he  bore  upon  him  neither 
words,  charms,  nor  incantations  with  which  to 
overcome  his  adversary.  At  length  all  pre- 
liminaries terminated.  Then,  at  a  cry  from  the 
heralds,  the  knights  closed.  In  the  first  round 
one  of  them  was  seen  to  stagger  beneath  his 
adversary's  thrust,  and  then,  beneath  another, 
to  fall  heavily  to  the  ground.     To  the  astonish- 

1  De  Bouille,  Les  Dues  de  Guise,  I,  174. 
G  81 


Margaret  of  France 

ment  of  all  spectators  it  was  La  Chataigneraie 
who  had  fallen,  wounded  in  the  left  leg  and 
totally  disabled.  The  Italian's  fencing  lessons 
had  borne  fruit  in  a  sword-thrust  which  was  to  be 
known  down  the  ages  as  le  coup  de  Jarnac. 

It  was  evident  that  all  was  over.  "  Give  me 
back  my  honour,"  cried  Jarnac  to  his  fallen  foe, 
"  and  ask  mercy  from  God  and  from  the  King." 
But  the  wounded  knight  made  no  answer.  Leaving 
him  on  the  ground,  Jarnac  crossed  the  lists  and 
addressed  the  King.  Kneeling,  he  implored  : 
"  Sire,  I  entreat  you,  hold  me  to  be  a  man  of 
honour.  ...  I  give  you  La  Chataigneraie.  .  .  . 
Take  him,  Sire.  Our  quarrel  was  but  the  heat  of 
youth." 

The  King  was  silent.  His  mistress's  revenge 
was  in  his  mind  ;  and  he  hoped  that  her  cham- 
pion's wound  was  not  so  serious  but  that  he  might 
be  able  to  rise  and  overcome  his  adversary. 

Jarnac  returned  to  where  his  enemy  lay,  ap- 
parently unconscious  and  bleeding  profusely.  The 
victor  trembled,  fearing  that  he  had  killed  the 
King's  favourite.  But  La  Chataigneraie  was  not 
dead  ;  for,  as  his  antagonist  called  upon  him  to 
repent,  he  rose  on  one  knee,  and,  with  a  desperate 
effort,  endeavoured  to  throw  himself  upon  Jarnac. 
"  Do  not  move,  or  I  shall  kill  you,"  cried  Jarnac. 
"  Kill  me  then,"  retorted  the  other,  and  with  these 
words  fell  back. 

Again  Jarnac  returned  to  the  King  and  on  his 

82 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

knees  entreated  :  "  Sire, '  Sire,  accept  him  from 
me,  since  he  was  bred  in  your  household.  And 
esteem  me  a  man  of  honour  !  ...  If  you  have 
cause  of  battle,  you  will  find  no  knight  with  a 
better  heart  to  serve  you." 

But  again  the  King  was  silent. 

Jarnac  returned  to  his  enemy,  who  was  lying 
in  a  pool  of  blood. 

"  Chataigneraie,"  he  implored,  "  my  old  com- 
rade, make  your  peace  with  God,  and  let  us  be 
friends." 

But  La  Chataigneraie's  only  response  was  a  last 
attempt  to  rise  and  attack  his  adversary. 

Meanwhile  the  spectators  could  see  that  there 
was  danger  of  La  Chataigneraie  dying  then  and 
there,  in  the  lists. 

The  Constable  came  down  to  look  at  the 
wounded  man  and  told  the  King  that  he  must 
be  carried  away. 

Jarnac    was    entreating    for    the    third    time  : 
'  Take  him,  Sire,  for  the  love  of  God  I  beseech 
you." 

And  the  King,  with  his  mistress's  eye  upon  him, 
still  hesitated  to  put  her  enemy  in  the  right. 

Then  Jarnac  turned  to  the  one  person  in  that 
courtly  multitude,  whom  he  knew  to  be  just,  to 
her  whose  heart  was  ever  pitiful,  and,  approach- 
ing the  platform,  where,  pale  as  a  corpse,  sat 
Margaret,  to  her  the  victor  cried  :  "  Ah  !  Madam, 
you  told  me  how  it  would  be." 

83 


Margaret  of  France 

Did  Henry  hear  these  words  or  did  he  merely 
observe  that  his  sister  was  being  appealed  to  ? 
Whichever  it  may  have  been,  from  that  moment 
he  relented  ;  and  to  Jarnac's  fourth  entreaty  the 
King  answered  curtly  : 

"  You  have  done  your  duty  and  your  honour 
must  be  restored  to  you." 

The  customary  formula,  "  You  are  a  man  of 
honour,"  even  now  Henry  refused  to  pronounce. 

And  then  at  length  the  wounded  man  was 
carried  off  the  field.  But,  knowing  that  if  he 
lived  he  would  be  dishonoured,  he  refused  to 
recover,  and,  cutting  the  bandages  on  his  leg,  he 
bled  to  death.  The  magnificent  triumphal  ban- 
quet, which  in  his  assurance  of  victory,  La 
Chataigneraie  had  prepared  in  his  tent,  was  con- 
sumed by  the  rabble. 

Jarnac,  aware  that  the  King  would  never 
pardon  his  victory  and  afraid  to  provoke  yet 
further  the  royal  wrath,  refused  the  honours 
usually  accorded  to  the  victor  in  a  duel.  Yet  he 
was  never  taken  back  into  the  royal  favour.  He 
died  a  mere  captain,  serving  under  Coligny,  in 
1557,  at  the  Siege  of  St.  Quentin. 

After  the  coronation  on  25th  of  July,  it  was 
arranged  that  early  in  the  following  year,  1548, 
the  King  and  Queen  and  the  court  should  start  on 
one  of  those  royal  progresses  through  the  kingdom, 
which  were  so  greatly  favoured  by  the  Valois 
kings.     Margaret  was  to  accompany  them.     And, 

84 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

towards  the  end  of  April,  1548,  the  courtly  throng 
set  forth  from  Saint-Germain.  Having  visited 
the  Duke  of  Guise  at  his  chateau  of  Joinville,  in 
Lorraine,  they  travelled  south  to  the  Abbey  of 
Vauluisant,  near  Sens,  where  they  were  enter- 
tained by  Coligny's  brother,  the  Cardinal  de 
Chatillon.  On  the  10th  of  May  they  were  at 
Troyes.  Thence  by  way  of  Dijon  and  Beaune, 
they  proceeded  to  Lyon  ;  and  there  the  court 
parted,  the  King  and  his  nobles  going  into  Pied- 
mont while  the  Queen  and  her  ladies  went  to 
Moulins. 

Among  the  gardens,  fountains  and  forests  of 
what  had  once  been  the  Bourbon  chateau  of 
Moulins,1  Margaret,  with  Catherine  and  the  ladies 
of  the  court,  passed  the  time  of  the  King's  absence 
in  Italy.  Among  the  rare  books  of  the  Bourbon 
library  it  would  have  delighted  Margaret  to 
browse  at  her  leisure.  But  alas  !  those  priceless 
tomes  had  been  removed  to  Fontainebleau,  whence 
later  they  were  to  be  conveyed  to  Diane's  chateau 
of  Anet,  the  gift  of  Henry  II  to  his  mistress. 

Towards  the  middle  of  August,  Catherine  and 
her  ladies  left  Moulins  to  go  and  meet  the  King 
on  his  return  from   Piedmont.     At   the   ancient 


1  This  chateau,  with  other  possessions  of  the  Connetable  de 
Bourbon,  passed  into  the  hands  of  Louise  de  Savoie  on  the 
Constable's  defection  to  the  Emperor.  One  of  the  greatest  and 
most  magnificent  of  sixteenth- century  chateaux,  nothing  now 
remains  of  it. 

85 


Margaret  of  France 


chateau  of  La  Cote-Saint-Andre  in  Viennois, 
where  the  Dauphin  Louis,  afterwards  Louis  XI, 
had  married  his  Savoyard  bride,  the  court  was  re- 
united. Lyon  was  their  next  halting-place.  There 
Catherine  and  her  suite  arrived  on  the  20th  of 
September  and  Henry  a  day  later. 

Lyon  was  then  the  greatest  and  the  most 
prosperous  of  French  provincial  towns.  Among 
its  citizens  it  numbered  the  leaders  of  the  French 
Renaissance  :  of  literature  Francois  Rabelais ; 
of  painting  Pierre  Corneille ;  of  architecture 
Philibert  de  L'Orme ;  of  scholarship  Etienne  Dolet. 

But  of  Renaissance  femininism  Lyon  was  also 
the  centre.  The  famous  poetess  of  the  century, 
Louise  Labe,1  known  as  La  Belle  Cordiere  because 
of  her  marriage  with  a  wealthy  rope-maker,  one 
Ennemond  Perrin,  of  the  city,  was  at  that  time 
in  her  magnificent  hotel  in  the  Rue  Comfort  hold- 
ing one  of  the  earliest  of  French  literary  and 
artistic  salons.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  Margaret 
may  have  figured  with  the  poets,  artists  and 
captains  who  gathered  round  Madame  Perrin's 
hospitable  board,  spread  with  an  elegant  collation2 
of  those  succulent  confitures,  for  which  Lyon  was 
famous.  To  Margaret  la  belle  Cordiere  dedicated 
one  of  her  sonnets.    The  Princess  may  also  have 

1  Or  Louise  Charly  Labe  (i  526-1 565).  See  Paradin,  Histoire 
de  Lyon,  pp.  355-6,  and  Feugere,  Femmes  Poetes  au  XV Heme 
Steele,  pp.  4-23. 

2  Haureau,  La  Croix  du  Maine,  p.  180. 

86 


PA 


PORTRAIT    OF    MARGARE1     O]      FRANCE    I\    1,48 
/  rom  a  />,  tin  tin-  by  (  'o  m  ille  de  Lyon  at  I  'ersailies 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

visited  that  other  literary  salon  of  the  city  of 
which  Madame  du  Perron,1  wife  of  the  famous 
scholar,  Antoine  de  Gondi,  was  mistress.  We 
know  that  Margaret  and  the  court  listened  with 
delight  while  the  beautiful  Mademoiselle  Clemence 
de  Bourges,2  the  pearl  of  Lyonnese  society,  played 
on  the  virginals.  Some  years  later  Mademoiselle  de 
Bourges  came  to  a  sad  end.  In  1561  she  died  of 
grief  for  the  loss  of  her  betrothed  who  fell  fighting 
against  the  Protestants  of  Dauphine.  The  citizens 
of  Lyon  united  to  mourn  her  death  and  to  give 
her  a  state  funeral. 

From  a  window  in  the  Rue  St.  Jean,  on  the 
23rd  of  September,  Margaret  watched  her  brother 
make  his  triumphal  entry  into  his  good  city. 
Not  even  those  gorgeous  shows  with  which 
the  Piedmontese  had  greeted  their  sovereign  could 
compare  with  the  magnificence  of  the  welcome 
accorded  to  him  by  the  citizens  of  Lyon. 

Although  the  Queen  was  present,  it  was  not 
Catherine  but  Diane  who  received  all  the  honours 
of  the  day.  For  Diane's  duchy  of  Valentinois, 
recently  bestowed  upon  her  by  the  King,  was 
close  at  hand,  wherefore  the  shrewd  Lyonnese  were 
especially  desirous  to  win  her  favour.  So  in  every 
scene  of  that  magnificent  pageant  Diane  figured  : 

1  R.  C.  Christie,  Etienne  Dolet  (ed.  1880),  p.  169 

2  See  Biographie  Universelle,  s.v.  Bourges  ;  also  Feugere,  op. 
oil.,  p.  22;  and  Francois  de  Billon,  Le  Fort  Inexpugnable  de  Vhonneur 
feminin,  p.  214. 

87 


Margaret  of  France 

Diane  as  the  moon  goddess,  Diane  as  the  huntress, 
Diane's  crescent  on  the  triumphal  arches,  on  the 
walls  and  on  the  cornices,  Diane's  initial  interlaced 
with  the  King's  on  pillar,  hanging  and  obelisk  ; 
but  above  all  Diane  the  centre  of  that  great 
allegorical  tableau,  designed  by  the  Lyonnese 
poet,  Maurice  Sceve,  which  was  the  pageant's 
culminating  glory.  On  his  right  hand  as  he 
entered  the  town,  the  King  beheld,  six  feet  above 
the  ground,  a  meadow  planted  with  trees,  whereon 
deer  of  all  kinds  disported  themselves,  and  where 
suddenly  to  the  sound  of  horns  and  trumpets  ap- 
peared Diana  and  her  maidens  hunting  in  the 
forest.  The  goddess,  in  a  tunic  of  black  net,  be- 
spangled with  stars  of  silver,  wearing  sleeves  and 
boots  of  crimson  satin,  embroidered  in  gold  and 
armed  with  a  richly  chased  Turkish  bow,  was 
followed  by  a  train  of  maidens  also  elaborately 
accoutred,  some  holding  in  leash  dogs  of  divers 
breeds,  others  bearing  bundles  of  Brazilian  arrows 
with  ribbons  of  black  and  white,  Diane's  colours, 
depending.  Then  there  rushed  fiercely  from  the 
grove  a  lordly  lion,  who,  spying  the  goddess, 
crouched  tamely  at  her  feet  and  permitted  her  to 
lead  him  by  cord  of  black  and  silver  to  the  King, 
to  whom  the  royal  beast  was  presented  as  an 
emblem  of  the  good  town  of  Lyon  submissive  to 
the  King's  command. 

On  the  following  day,  the  24th  of  September,  it 
was  Margaret's  turn  to  figure  in  the  pageant  of 

88 


Margaret  at  the  Court  of  Henry  II 

the  Queen's  triumphal  entry  into  the  city.  No  less 
magnificent  than  that  of  the  previous  day  was  this 
procession,  in  which,  side  by  side  with  Catherine 
and  our  Margaret,  drove  Margaret  of  Angouleme 
and  her  daughter,  Jeanne  d'Albret. 

After  five  days  of  feasting  on  land  and  on  water, 
the  court  quitted  Lyon  on  the  ist  of  October, 
and,  by  a  leisurely  progress,  made  its  way  to  the 
chateau  of  Moulins,  which  was  reached  on  the  8th. 

At  Moulins  there  was  more  feasting  in  honour 
of  the  marriage  of  Jeanne  d'Albret  with  Margaret's 
sometime  suitor,  Antoine,  Duke  of  Vendome.  To 
this  marriage  the  bride's  parents  strongly  ob- 
jected. And  it  was  only  by  the  King's  express 
command  that  they  were  present  at  the  wedding. 
The  King  and  Queen  of  Navarre  had  for  years 
been  plotting  and  scheming  to  unite  their  daughter 
to  a  prince  of  Spain,  hoping  thereby  to  win  back 
that  part  of  their  kingdom  which  Spain  had  con- 
quered. But  the  Kings  of  France,  both  Francis 
and  Henry,  disapproved  of  this  Spanish  alliance, 
and  now  Henry  had  succeeded  in  preventing  it. 

The  occasion  of  her  daughter's  wedding  was  the 
first  Margaret's  last  appearance  at  court.  A 
sad  and  disillusioned  woman,  she  devoted  her 
remaining  days  to  religious  contemplation. 

"  I  have  no  longer  father,  mother,  sister,  brother, 
nought  but  God  in  whom  I  hope,"  she  wrote. 
"  Everything  have  I  cast  into  oblivion,  the  world, 
my  kinsfolk,  my  friends,  wealth  and  honours  in 

89 


Margaret  of  France 

abundance,  foes  do  I  hold  them  and  such  treasures 
do  I  mistrust."1 

The  elder  Margaret's  imaginative  mind  had 
always  been  fascinated  by  the  mystery  of  life  and 
death.  "  Are  you  happy  in  heaven  ?  "  she  had 
asked  her  dead  niece  Charlotte,  in  a  poem  already 
alluded  to.2  Hanging  over  the  death-bed  of  one 
of  her  ladies,  she  had  watched  intently,  trying  to 
observe  in  some  material  guise  the  soul's  escape 
from  the  body.  When  her  friends,  the  Reformers, 
talked  of  eternal  life,  she  would  say  :  "  Yes,  it  may 
be  true,  but  first  we  must  stay  a  long  while  under- 
ground." "  Is  it  comfortable  in  the  tomb,  think 
you  ?  "3  asks  one  of  her  characters.  To  Margaret 
herself  was  it  given  to  solve  the  great  mystery  on 
the  21st  of  December,  1549,  when,  after  a  short 
illness,  she  passed  away  at  her  chateau  of  Odos, 
near  Tarbes. 

Since  the  death  of  King  Francis,  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  had  been  little  at  court,  and  the  two 
Margarets  can  have  met  but  seldom.  Yet  we 
know  that  the  death  of  her  aunt  must  have  left 
a  sad  blank  in  the  life  of  our  Margaret,  that 
petite  Margot,  whom  in  her  early  years  the  elder 
Margaret  had  tended  with  such  loving  care. 

1  Les  Marguerites  de  la  Marguerite  des  Princesses  (ed.  Felix 
Frank),  III,  pp.  120-1. 

2  Ante  p.  15. 

3  Prou,  in  the  farce,  Trop,  Prou,  Peu,  Moins. 


90 


A    WOODCUT   REPRESENTING    MARGARET   OF 
ANGOULEME,    BY    NICOLAS     DEN1SOT 
From  the  Frontispiece  of  "  I.e  Tombeau  de 
Marguerite  de  I  'alois  " 


CHAPTER  V 

A   CAUSE    CELEBRE 

The  Defendant,  Jacques  de  Savoie,  Due  de  Nemours — The  Plain- 
tiff, Francoise  de  Rohan,  Dame  de  Garnache — The  Wooing  of 
Francoise — Nemours'  Treachery  in  Italy — The  Ball  at  Blois — 
Catherine's  Warning — Margaret's  Intervention — A  Kiss  in 
the  name  of  Marriage — The  Ordeal — Flight  of  Francoise — 
Birth  of  Henri  de  Savoie — Thirty-four  years  of  Litigation — 
Margaret's  Evidence — The  Agreement  of  1577 — Last  Years 
of  Francoise — Death  of  Jacques  de  Nemours. 

"Amour  contre  amour  querelle 
Si  par  double  effort  contraire 
Le  mien  Ton  me  veut  soustraire 
A  l'honneur  d'honneur  j'appelle." 

THE  manners  of  King  Henry  II's  court 
prove  that  the  gallantry  of  the  Re- 
naissance tended  to  become  what  the 
chivalry  of  the  Middle  Age  had  not 
seldom  been — a  mere  cloak  for  sensuality.  No- 
where is  the  grossness,  nay  even  the  bestiality, 
of  the  period  more  clearly  reflected  than  in  the 
records  of  an  action  brought  by  Francoise  de 
Rohan,  Dame  de  Garnache,  against  Jacques  de 
Savoie,  Duke  of  Nemours,  which  was  the  cause 
celebre  of  the  century. 

The  Zolaesque  details  of  these  realistic  records 

91 


Margaret  of  France 

we  will  spare  our  readers  ;  but  no  biography  of 
our  Margaret  would  be  complete  without  the 
story  of  this  famous  trial,1  in  which  she  was 
one  of  the  chief  witnesses. 

The  defendant,  Jacques  de  Nemours,2  was 
Margaret's  cousin,  being  the  nephew  of  her 
grandmother,  Louise  de  Savoie.  He  was  also 
the  cousin  of  Margaret's  future  husband,  Em- 
manuel Philibert,  Duke  of  Savoy.  The  most 
dashing  of  all  the  gay  gallants  at  the  court  of 
King  Henry  II,  Nemours  was  as  graceful  a  courtier 
and  as  accomplished  a  gentleman  as  "  le  beau 
Brissac  "  had  been  at  the  court  of  King  Francis. 
Not  in  France  only  but  throughout  Europe  was 
Jacques  de  Nemours  known  as  the  flower  of 
chivalry,  "  a  verray  parfit,  gentil  knyght."  As  such 
his  fame  was  to  cross  the  Channel  and  to  reach  the 
court  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  That  "  Great  Ladie 
of  the  greatest  Isle,"  the  Gloriana  of  all  true 
knights,  expressed  a  wish  to  see  this  champion 
of  chivalry  and  even  hinted  that  he  might 
not  be  unworthy  to  share  her  throne.  Elaborate 
preparations  were  made  for  Nemours'  visit  to 
the  Virgin  Queen.  But  before  they  were  com- 
plete   that    fickle    sovereign    had    changed    her 

1  See  Alphonse  de  Ruble,  Le  Due  de  Nemours  et  Francoise  de 
Rohan  (1883),  also  a  briefer  and  less  accurate  account  of  the  story 
by  La  Ferriere  Percy  in  Trois  A  mour eases  au  X  V Heme  Steele  (1885). 

2  1531-1585. 

3  See  genealogical  table  of  the  House  of  Savoy,  p.  151. 

92 


A  Cause  Celebre 
mind.     Possiblv  she  had  heard  rumours  of  some 

ml 

of  the  events  to  be  narrated  in  this  chapter.  At 
any  rate,  the  Duke  was  given  to  understand  that 
he  would  no  longer  be  welcome  at  the  English 
court. 

Francoise  de  Rohan,1  the  plaintiff  in  this 
cause  celebre,  was  a  princess  of  the  blood  royal ; 
on  the  side  of  her  father,  Rene  de  Rohan,  she 
was  descended  from  old  Breton  kings  ;  through 
her  mother,  Isabeau  d'Albret,  she  was  niece  to 
Henry  d'Albret,  King  of  Navarre,  who  had 
married  the  first  Margaret.  And  Francoise, 
like  many  another,  owed  much  to  the  kindness 
of  the  Queen  of  Navarre.  When  Rene  de  Rohan 
and  his  wife  were  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  the  first 
Margaret  rescued  them  from  their  creditors  and 
carried  off  their  daughter  Francoise  to  be  educated 
with  her  own  daughter,  Jeanne.  Unhappily 
for  Francoise,  Jeanne  at  that  time  had  none  of 
her  mother's  kindness ;  the  future  mother  of 
Henry  Quatre  domineered  over  and  even  beat 
her  poor  relation.  And  Francoise  must  have 
been  glad  when  Jeanne's  marriage,  in  1548, 
set  her  free  from  so  tyrannical  a  playmate. 

On  the  death  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  in  1549, 
Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  was  taken  to  court. 
There  she  became  one  of  Queen  Catherine's 
ladies  with  servants  of  her  own  and  a  suite  of 

1  The  date  of  the  birth  of  Francoise  is  uncertain,  but  it  was 
probably  after  1 5  34. 

93 


Margaret  of  France 

apartments,  which  she  shared  with  Jeanne  de 
Savoie,  sister  of  the  Duke  of  Nemours.  The 
two  girls  had  a  governess,  a  mature  widow,  one 
Gabrielle  de  Binel,  Dame  de  Coue,  of  whom  we 
shall  hear  again.  This  duenna,  who  was  con- 
sidered something  of  a  prude,  had  for  that  reason 
been  appointed  to  guard  the  charms  of  Francoise 
de  Rohan,  who  was  growing  very  beautiful. 
But  nothing  less  than  the  eye  of  the  basilisk 
and  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  could  effectually 
protect  young  loveliness  in  that  licentious  court, 
and  with  neither  of  those  famous  safeguards  was 
Madame  de  Coue  endowed.  Prude  she  may 
have  been,  but  she  was  likewise  very  human 
and  very  susceptible  to  the  cajoleries  of  the 
handsome  Duke  of  Nemours  when  he  came 
ostensibly  to  visit  his  sister.  So  gallant  a  squire 
of  dames  was  not  slow  to  appreciate  the  charms 
of  his  sister's  companion.  Soon  he  was  giving 
Francoise  presents  and  soliciting  permission  to 
wear  her  colours,  white  and  violet,  when  he 
tilted  in  the  lists,  and  writing  her  letters,  which 
she  dutifully  showed  to  her  governess. 

In  a  gossiping  court  such  things  could  not 
long  be  hid.  Rumours  that  the  Duke  of  Nemours 
was  paying  his  addresses  to  Mademoiselle  de 
Rohan  reached  the  ears  of  Antoine  de  Vendome, 
King  of  Navarre,  who  had  been  her  guardian 
since  the  death  of  her  father.  Antoine  asked 
the    Duke    his    intentions    and    offered    to   ob- 

94 


A  Cause  Celebre 

tain  the  King's  permission  for  his  marriage 
with  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan.  But  Nemours 
put  Antoine  off  with  the  vague  assurance 
that  some  day  he  would  marry  Francoise  and 
that  when  the  day  arrived  the  King  of  Navarre 
should  be  the  first  to  hear  of  it.  Antoine  was 
an  easy-going  person  and  with  the  Duke's  assur- 
ance he  seems  to  have  been  satisfied. 

This  interview  took  place  early  in  1555  ;  and 
soon  afterwards  Nemours  left  the  court  for  the 
Italian  wars. 

The  night  before  his  departure,  accompanied 
by  three  gentlemen  of  his  suite,  he  visited  Made- 
moiselle de  Rohan,  staying  with  her  and  her 
ladies,  in  spite  of  Madame  de  Coue's  remon- 
strances, until  one  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Before 
taking  his  leave,  in  the  presence  of  six  witnesses, 
the  Duke  promised  to  marry  Francoise  on  his 
return  ;  and  he  sent  her  a  gold  enamel  ring  as 
he  passed  through  Paris.  In  terms  of  passionate 
devotion  he  corresponded  with  her  during  his 
absence  ;  and  Francoise  kept  the  letters  which 
she  produced  at  the  trial.  But,  while  penning 
love-letters  to  his  lady,  Nemours  was  writing 
to  his  friend,  the  Marechal  Saint-Andre,  that 
he  had  no  intention  of  marrying  her.  Of  her 
lover's  double-dealing  Francoise  did  not  long 
remain  ignorant.  But  to  her  remonstrances 
Nemours  replied  with  new  protestations  of  love 
and  new  promises  of  marriage,  which  he  besought 

95 


Margaret  of  France 

Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  to  keep  to  herself.  Such 
a  request  alone  should  have  aroused  her  suspicion. 
Indeed,  had  she  but  known,  there  was  every 
reason  for  her  jealousy  ;  Nemours  was  at  that 
very  time  proposing  to  marry  Lucrezia  d'Este,1 
Margaret's  cousin,  the  daughter  of  Renee  of 
France  and  the  Duke  of  Ferrara. 

Towards  the  end  of  1555,  after  some  months 
of  campaigning  in  Piedmont,  Nemours  returned 
to  France  and  rejoined  the  court  at  Blois.  That 
winter  there  was  high  revelry  in  the  halls  of  the 
Blois  chateau.  For  Philibert  de  Marsilly,  Seigneur 
de  Cypiere,  a  great  noble,  a  gay  companion,  a 
famous  teller  of  stories  and  a  scholarly  gentleman 
withal,  was  marrying  Louise  de  Halluin,  a  demoi- 
selle of  ancient  lineage,  daughter  of  my  Lord 
and  Lady  of  Piennes  and  one  of  Margaret's 
ladies.2  The  wedding  festivities  lasted  throughout 
the  winter,  and  at  all  the  balls,  banquets  and 
tournaments  Nemours  cut  a  brilliant  figure, 
still  wearing  the  favour  of  Francoise,  a  sleeve  of 

1  Sister  of  Anne  d'Este,  Duchess  of  Guise,  whom,  after  the 
assassination  of  her  husband,  Nemours  was  to  marry.  See 
Memoires  de  Francois  de  Lorraine,  Due  de  Guise  (ed.  Michaud  et 
Poujoulat),  1  ifere  serie,  VI,  p.  235. 

2  See  Depenses  de  Marguerite  de  France,  Doc.  cit.  Bib.  Nat. 
Jeanne  de  Piennes,  sister  of  Louise,  was  to  share  the  fate  of 
Francoise  de  Rohan  and  to  be  jilted  by  the  Constable's  eldest 
son,  Francois  de  Montmorency,  for  the  King's  natural  daughter, 
Diane  de  France.  But,  unlike  Francoise,  Jeanne  submitted 
tamely,  and  soon  afterwards  married  some  one  else.  For  her 
farewell  to  her  lover  see  Le  Roux  de  Lincy.  Recueil  de  Chants 
Historiques  Francais  (1847),  2ifeme  serie,  p.  205. 

96 


A  Cause  Celebre 

silver  cloth  with  a  rosette  of  violet  silk,  when 
he  tilted  in  the  lists.  In  January,  1556,  the 
feasting  reached  its  climax  in  the  performance 
by  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  court  of  the  famous 
play  of  Sophonisbe,1  the  first  regular  tragedy 
of  modern  literature.  After  the  play  followed 
a  supper  and  a  ball.  During  the  ball,  Francoise, 
accompanied  by  the  King's  natural  daughter, 
Madame  Diane  de  France,2  went  out  on  to  the 
terrace  of  the  castle.  There,  by  appointment, 
she  met  Nemours.  And  there  she  promised 
the  Duke  to  receive  him  in  her  apartments  when 
the  dancing  should  be  done. 

That  night  the  lovers  spent  some  hours  to- 
gether, doubtless  in  the  company  of  lords  and 
ladies  of  their  following,  for,  according  to  evidence 
given  at  the  trial,  they  were  seldom,  if  ever, 
alone. 

For  weeks  the  relations  between  the  lovers 
had  been  somewhat  strained.  And  now  it  seemed 
at  first  as  if  they  had  met  only  to  quarrel.  Fran- 
coise reproached  the  Duke  with  his  many  flirtations 
and  with  one  in  particular,  with  a  lady  who  was 
nameless  ;  but  afterwards  there  was  a  reconcilia- 

1  Translated  into  French  by  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais  and 
Francois  Habert  from  the  Italian  of  Trissino,  the  play  had  once 
before  been  performed  at  court,  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage 
of  the  Marquis  d'Elboeuf,  the  son  of  Claude,  Duke  of  Guise,  with 
Louise  de  Rieux,  Comtesse  d'Harcourt,  in  1554. 

2  The  mother  of  Madame  Diane  was  probably  a  lady  of  Pied- 
mont, one  Philippa  Due. 

H  97 


Margaret  of  France 

tion,  and  these  words  passed  between  the  Duke 
and  Franc  oise  : 

Nemours.     I  take  you  for  my  wife 
{Je  vous  prends  d  femme). 
Francoise.     I  take  you  for  my  husband 

{Je  vous  prends  pour  mon  mary). 

The  next  day  Francoise  started  for  Brittany 
to  visit  her  mother.  The  journey  had  been 
arranged  some  time  earlier,  but  Mademoiselle  de 
Rohan's  departure  had  been  delayed  in  order  that 
she  might  take  part  in  the  acting  of  Sophonisbe.1 

Her  interview  with  her  lover  had  been  in 
direct  disobedience  to  the  Queen's  command.  For 
Catherine  had  forbidden  Nemours  to  visit  Fran- 
coise and  had  charged  Madame  de  Coue  to  refuse 
him  admittance.  These  injunctions  resulted  from 
advice  given  to  the  Queen  by  the  Cardinal  of 
Lorraine,  who,  though  not  exactly  a  paragon 
of  virtue  himself,  was  a  precisian  where  other 
people  were  concerned.  Counselled  by  the  Car- 
dinal, Catherine  had  summoned  Nemours  to 
her  presence  and  had  drawn  from  him  the  ad- 
mission that  for  the  present  he  was  too  poor 
to  marry  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan ;  he  hoped, 
however,  so  he  told  the  Queen,  that  soon  this 
obstacle  would  vanish  and  that  the  wedding 
would    take    place.      Catherine    asked    him    to 

1  "  In  France,  even  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
women  occasionally  appeared  on  the  boards."  Boulting,  Women 
in  Italy,  p.  341. 

98 


A  Cause  Celebre 

swear  that  he  would  marry  Francoise  within  a 
year  ;  but  he  refused  on  the  ground  of  it  being 
unnecessary,  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  herself 
having  already  received  his  promise  upon  oath. 
Catherine,  more  astute  than  Antoine  de  Vendome, 
was  not  to  be  put  off  with  vague  promises,  and 
the  Brittany  visit  was  probably  of  her  contriving. 
But  the  lovers  were  not  separated  long  ;  Francoise 
was  soon  back  again  ;  and  in  April  she  rejoined 
the  court,  which  was  still  at  Blois. 

Now  Margaret  began  to  intervene  in  a  romance, 
which  for  some  time  she  must  have  been  watching 
with  interest  and  concern.  Soon  after  the  return 
of  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan,  Nemours  made  another 
public  declaration  of  an  intent  to  marry  Francoise  ; 
the  value  of  this  public  announcement,  however, 
was  speedily  cancelled  by  its  contradiction  in 
private.  The  incident  illustrates  the  manners 
then  prevailing  in  the  French  court.  It  happened 
in  the  apartments  of  Madam  Margaret.  There, 
in  the  presence  of  the  King's  sister  and  of  numerous 
lords  and  ladies,  Nemours  took  Francoise  in  his 
arms,  saying  : 

"  My  mistress,  kiss  me  in  the  name  of  marriage." 
And  Francoise  kissed  him  in  the  name  of  marriage. 
Now  a  kiss  given  in  public  was  then  regarded 
as  the  irrevocable  sign  of  wedlock.1  Wherefore 
Margaret    took    Nemours    apart    and    inquired 

1  Such  was  the  case  in  Italy  and  probably  also  in  France 
before  the  matrimonial  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

99 


Margaret  of  France 

whether  such  were  indeed  the  significance  of  the 
kiss  he  had  just  received  from  Mademoiselle  de 
Rohan.  And  then  this  flower  of  chivalry  had  the 
audacity  to  reply  that  nothing  was  further  from 
his  thoughts  than  marriage  with  Francoise.  Mar- 
garet acted  as  a  true  friend  to  Francoise  by  going 
at  once  to  tell  her  of  what  Nemours  had  just  said. 
But  even  this  treacherous  avowal  on  the  part 
of  her  lover  seems  to  have  made  no  impression 
on  the  infatuated  girl.  Her  relations  with  Nemours 
continued  as  before.  The  Truce  of  Vaucelles 
having  for  a  time  put  an  end  to  the  war,  the 
lovers  were  now  constantly  together.  From 
Blois  Nemours  accompanied  Francoise  and  the 
court  to  Coligny's  chateau  at  Chatillon  -  sur  - 
Loing  and  afterwards  to  Fontainebleau.  Here 
another  significant  conversation  took  place,  and 
again  it  was  in  Margaret's  apartments.  This 
time  the  Queen  endeavoured  to  cure  Francoise 
of  her  infatuation  by  convincing  her  that,  ever 
since  Nemours'  return  from  Italy  in  the  previous 
December,  all  hope  of  their  marriage  had  vanished. 
But  the  ground  for  her  statement,  viz.  that 
the  Duke  was  planning  marriage  with  Made- 
moiselle d'Este,  Catherine,  with  what  seems 
to  us  a  cruel  reticence,  withheld.  We,  with 
the  wisdom  derived  from  after  events,  can  see 
that  this  knowledge  alone  could  have  saved  the 
unfortunate  girl,  who  was  now  rushing  blindly  on 
her  fate. 

IOO 


A  Cause  Celebre 

To  the  Queen's  warning  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan 
paid  no  more  heed  than  to  Margaret's.  The 
lovers  continued  to  meet  as  before  until  November, 
1556,  when  the  renewal  of  war  called  the  Duke  to 
Italy. 

Soon  after  his  departure  those  two  court 
busybodies,  the  Constable  and  the  Cardinal  of 
Lorraine,  began  to  suspect  and  to  watch  Fran- 
coise. In  January,  1557,  they  imparted  their 
suspicions  to  the  King.  Then  Henry  also  began 
to  watch.  And,  as  the  consequence  of  these 
observations,  one  morning  while  Francoise  was 
in  bed,  she  found  her  room  invaded  by  a  train 
of  ladies,  led  by  the  Queen  and  Diane  de  Poitiers. 
Then  and  there  they  subjected  Mademoiselle 
de  Rohan  to  an  ordeal  not  uncommon  in  those 
days,  recalling  that  imposed  by  the  matrons  of 
Poitiers  upon  Joan  of  Arc  a  century  earlier. 
But  the  result  of  the  ordeal  in  Mademoiselle 
de  Rohan's  case  was  different.  It  proved  that 
the  King's  suspicions  were  not  groundless  and 
it  led  to  the  lady's  being  summoned  to  the  King's 
closet. 

There,  before  the  King  himself,  the  Queen, 
Madam  Margaret,  the  Constable,  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine,  the  Duchess  of  Montmorency,  the 
Duchess  of  Montpensier  and  Diane  de  Poitiers, 
Francoise  was  called  upon  to  prove  that  Nemours 
had  promised  her  marriage  and  to  produce  his 
letters. 

IOI 


Margaret  of  France 

We  should  like  to  record  that  on  this  occasion 
Margaret  displayed  her  natural  kindness  and 
spoke  some  word  of  sympathy  to  another  woman 
in  distress.  Alas  !  we  have  no  authority  for 
attributing  to  her  any  such  kindly  word.  Through- 
out the  whole  of  this  affair  the  King's  sister  was 
entirely  on  the  side  of  her  kinsman  Nemours. 

The  only  person  who  showed  any  consideration 
for  Franc oise  was  the  King;  he  enjoined  all 
present  to  observe  the  strictest  secrecy  on  the 
matter,  an  injunction  which  everyone  promptly 
disregarded. 

Soon  after  this  ordeal  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan 
left  the  court  and  took  refuge  with  her  guardian, 
Antoine  de  Vendome,  in  Beam.  At  the  Duke's 
chateau  of  Pau,  on  the  24th  of  March,  1557, 
in  the  presence  of  her  mother,  Isabeau  d'Albret, 
Francoise  gave  birth  to  a  son,  of  whom  she 
asserted  Nemours  to  be  the  father. 

Weak  and  frail  Francoise  may  have  been 
as  a  girl,  as  a  mother  she  was  strong  and  un- 
wavering. Her  courage  and  persistence  were 
admirable.  For  thirty-four  years,  from  the  birth 
of  her  son  in  1557  until  the  day  of  her  death  in 
1591,  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  insisted  upon  her 
moral  and  legal  right  to  be  regarded  as  the  lawful 
wife  of  the  Duke  of  Nemours.  Her  argument 
was  that  the  Duke's  promise  constituted  marriage. 
And  she  was  perfectly  right  according  to  ecclesi- 
astical  procedure   previous   to    the    matrimonial 


102 


tai»?'«,. 


j^-4,_ 


% 


m 


Photo. 


JACQ1   ES    DE    5AVOIE,    DUC    DE    NEMOURS,    ABOUT    1560. 
From  a  portrait  0/  the  Cloud  School  at  Chant  illy 


Gtraii 


A  Cause  Celebre 

decree,  issued  in  1563,  by  the  Council  of  Trent. 
Before  that  date  the  Church  had  disliked  but 
had  not  forbidden  clandestine  unions,  neither 
had  it  required  the  marriage  contract  to  be  made 
in  the  presence  of  a  priest.  It  had  merely  in- 
sisted upon  just  such  a  mutual  promise  of  marriage 
made  in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  as  in  the  case 
of  Francoise  de  Rohan  and  Jacques  de  Nemours 
had  certainly  been  given. 

It  was  in  1559,  two  years  after  the  birth  of  her 
son,  that  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  instituted  legal 
proceedings  against  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  who 
from  the  first  had  denied  that  he  was  the  father 
of  her  child.  For  seventeen  years,  from  1559 
until  1576,  through  four  different  reigns  these 
proceedings  lasted.  The  suit,  or  rather  suits, 
were  carried  from  court  to  court,  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical. They  included  two  distinct  trials.  In 
the  first  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  was  endeavouring 
to  prove  that  Nemours  had  promised  her  marriage, x 
in  the  second  she  was  endeavouring  to  obtain  the 
nullification  of  the  Duke's  union  with  Anne  d'Este, 
widow  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  a  marriage  which 
had  taken  place  on  the  conclusion  of  the  first  trial. 
Both  trials  concluded  by  a  sentence  pronounced 
against  the  plaintiff. 

It  was  during  the  first  trial  that  Margaret 
was  summoned  as  a  witness  on  behalf  of  Francoise, 

1  Elle  se  porta  demanderesse  pour  promesse  de  present  et  mariage 
consomme  in  the  legal  phraseology  of  the  time. 

103 


Margaret  of  France 

together  with  other  great  personages  of  the  court, 
the  Queen,  the  Constable,  the  Cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine, the  Duchess  of  Montmorency,  Diane  de 
Poitiers  and  the  famous  surgeon,  Ambroise 
Pare.  One  of  Nemours'  advantages  lay  in  the 
fact  that  his  witnesses  were  all  persons  of  high 
rank  and  of  public  renown,  whereas  Mademoiselle 
de  Rohan  could  only  summon  servants,  whom 
Nemours  accused  her  of  having  bribed. 

A  month  after  the  tragic  death  of  King  Henry  II 
and  the  marriage  of  his  sister  with  the  Duke  of 
Savoy,  the  judges  went  down  to  Saint-Germain 
there  to  interrogate  the  Queen  and  Madam 
Margaret.  Both  witnesses  were  strongly  in  favour 
of  Nemours.  The  Duchess  of  Savoy,  as  we  have 
said,  had  always  taken  his  side  ;  and  now  she 
had  further  inducements  to  support  him,  for  he 
was  her  husband's  cousin  and  the  heir  to  his 
dominions. 

Margaret  in  her  evidence  confined  herself  to 
declaring  what  was  perfectly  true,  that  Nemours 
had  told  her  he  never  meant  to  marry  Made- 
moiselle de  Rohan  and  that  of  this  fact  she  had 
informed  Francoise. 

Soon  afterwards  the  Duchess  quitted  France 
for  Savoy.  And  here  her  part  in  the  story  ends. 
Our  readers,  however,  may  be  interested  to  learn 
the  end  of  so  famous  a  dispute  and  the  fate  of  so 
persistent  a  litigant. 

Like  most  great  French  trials  of  the  sixteenth 

104 


A  Cause  Celebre 

century,  and  indeed  of  later  times,  the  suit  of 
Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  against  the  Duke  de 
Nemours  became  entangled  with  political  affairs. 
During  its  progress  the  wars  of  religion  broke 
out.  While  the  Rohans  and  Franc oise  herself 
joined  the  Huguenots,  Nemours  remained  a 
Catholic  and  one  of  the  ablest  commanders 
of  the  Catholic  army.  At  one  moment  it  looked 
as  if  the  quarrel  was  to  be  transferred  from  the 
courts  of  law  to  the  field  of  battle,  for  the  brother 
of  Franc  oise  appeared  at  court  with  one  hundred 
and  seventy  armed  men  ;  and  bloodshed  was 
only  averted  by  the  mediation  of  Catherine  de 
Medicis. 

The  Queen  remained  throughout  a  strong 
supporter  of  Nemours,  while  Mademoiselle  de 
Rohan's  most  influential  champion  was  Antoine 
de  Vendome.  Even  after  his  union  with  the 
Catholic  party  Antoine  continued  to  support 
his  kinswoman's  cause.  It  was  owing  to  his 
influence  that,  in  1561,  the  course  of  the  quarrel 
took  a  very  surprising  turn.  From  the  Catholic 
army  encamped  before  Bourges  Nemours  sent 
Francoise  an  offer  of  marriage  :  if,  by  the  15th 
of  September  in  that  year,  she  would  come  to 
the  chateau  of  Langeais  near  Tours,  he  would 
there  marry  her  and  her  son  should  be  legitimised 
and  become  the  Duke's  heir,  provided  always 
that  this  proposal  should  be  kept  secret  until 
after  the  marriage  ceremony  had  been  performed. 

105 


Margaret  of  France 


This  insistence  upon  secrecy,  so  characteristic 
of  earlier  promises  made  only  to  be  broken, 
and  the  lonely  situation  of  the  chateau  at  Langeais 
alarmed    Franc oise.      She    recollected    other    in- 

3 

stances  of  women  being  lured  to  lonely  spots  under 
pledge  of  marriage  and  then  never  being  heard  of 
again.  So  she  not  unwisely  refused  the  Duke's 
offer. 

A  few  months  later  Antoine  died  from  the 
result  of  a  wound  received  at  the  siege  of  Rouen, 
and  with  his  death  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan's  last 
chance  of  success  vanished. 

On  the  28th  of  April,  1566,  the  first  trial  con- 
cluded with  a  sentence  in  favour  of  Nemours. 
On  the  following  day  the  Duke  married  Anne 
d'Este.1  Shortly  afterwards  Francoise  de  Rohan 
began  a  second  suit  with  the  object  of  establish- 
ing the  nullity  of  this  marriage  on  the  ground 
that  the  Duke  was  already  married  to  her,  Fran- 
coise. 

Again  Mademoiselle  de  Rohan  carried  her 
complaint  from  court  to  court,  and  again  with 
no  success,  for,  after  ten  years,  in  1576,  the  Pope 
pronounced  against  her. 

The  papal  sentence  put  an  end  to  all  legal 
proceedings  between  Francoise  and  Nemours, 
but  it  by  no  means  concluded  their  quarrel. 
Even  his  Holiness  was  unabJe  to  convince  Made- 

1  Her  first  husband,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  had  been  assassinated 
in  1563. 

106 


A  Cause  Celebre 

moiselle  de  Rohan  that  she  was  not  the  Duke's 
lawful  wife. 

The  year  following  the  Pope's  sentence,  the 
chances  of  war  placed  in  the  hands  of  Made- 
moiselle de  Rohan's  enemies  a  powerful  weapon 
against  her.  Her  son,  Henry  de  Savoie,  as  he 
called  himself,  a  ne'er-do-well,  who,  in  the  re- 
ligious wars,  was  acting  the  free-lance  and  the 
filibuster,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  army  of 
the  League.  And  straightway  he  was  used  as 
a  means  of  extorting  submission  from  his  mother. 
She  who  had  braved  royal  edicts  and  papal  bulls 
surrendered  to  maternal  love.  In  order  to  obtain 
her  son's  liberty  and  at  the  instance  of  her  rival, 
Anne  d'Este,  Francoise  consented  to  admit,  not 
the  nullity  of  her  (Mademoiselle  de  Rohan's) 
marriage  with  Nemours  but  its  dissolution.  By 
a  written  declaration  she  undertook  to  renounce 
all  intention  of  holding  converse  with  the  Duke  of 
Nemours,  "  seeing  that  he  hath  acted  unfaith- 
fully towards  us,"  and  "  seeing  that,  according 
to  the  opinion  and  counsel  of  many  good  and 
honourable  persons  of  our  religion,  we  have 
sufficient  cause  for  divorce." 

In  reward  for  his  mother's  submission,  Henry 
de  Savoie  was  liberated  without  ransom  ;  and 
the  house  of  Guise  settled  upon  him  an  income 
of  20,000  livres.  To  his  mother  was  granted 
as  appanage  the  town  of  Loudun  in  Brittany, 
the  title  of  duchess  and  a  considerable  fortune. 

107 


Margaret  of  France 

Despite  these  benefits  mischance  continued 
to  pursue  her.  Besieged  by  her  own  son  in  her 
ancestral  castle  of  Garnache,  she  was  driven  from 
beneath  her  own  roof  and  compelled  to  leave  a 
great  part  of  her  possessions  in  the  hands  of  him 
for  whom  she  had  already  sacrificed  so  much. 

Nor  were  her  matrimonial  adventures  yet  at 
an  end.  For,  in  1586,  was  recorded  a  promise 
of  marriage  between  Francoise  de  Rohan  and 
one  Francois  de  Legelle,  Seigneur  de  Guebriant, 
a  Breton  captain.  Did  this  marriage  ever  go  be- 
yond a  mere  promise  ?  We  cannot  tell.  But  in 
any  case  the  union  must  have  been  morganatic, 
for  until  her  death,  in  1591,  Francoise  is  always 
described  as  the  Duchess  of  Loudun. 

Her  son  was  never  permitted  to  inherit  his 
mother's  property.  He  died  in  1596,  leaving 
no  legitimate  heir. 

Six  years  before  Francoise,  Nemours  had  died 
of  gout  at  his  castle  of  Annecy  in  Savoy,  leaving 
two  sons  born  of  his  marriage  with  Anne  d'Este. 

Margaret  had  then  been  dead  some  years. 
But  until  the  close  of  her  life  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Nemours  had  corresponded  with  her 
regularly *  and  they  had  asked  her  to  be  god- 
mother to  one  of  their  boys. 

1  See  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.   3227,  Fos.  74,  24,  52,  68,  154,  and  F.F. 
3238,  Fo.  62. 


108 


CHAPTER    VI 

MARGARET   AND    MEN    OF   LETTERS 

Margaret  the  Pallas  Athene  of  the  Pleiade— Her  Protection  of 
Ronsard  and  the  Poet's  Gratitude — The  Salon  in  La  Rue  St. 
Andre-des-Arcs — Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite  de  Valois. 

"  C'est  la  Pallas  nouvelle 
Fille  de  la  cervelle 
De  ce  grand  Roy  Francois 
Des  Muses  la  dixieme 
Des  Graces  la  quatrienne." 

Joachim  du  Bellay. 

OUR  wanderings  in  the  wake  of  Francoise 
de   Rohan   and    Jacques  de   Nemours 
have    carried   us   far   from   Margaret. 
We    left   her   after   the   death   of   her 
aunt,   the   Queen   of   Navarre,   in   1549,    a  vear 
which  is  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  the  French 
Renaissance. 

With  the  first  Margaret  passed  away  the  older 
generation  of  French  Renaissance  writers  :  Marot, 
the  literary  dictator,  the  Boileau,  of  Margaret's 
court,  had  died  in  1544  ;  Francis  I,  the  Caesar  of 
that  Augustan  Age,  in  1547 ;  Rabelais,  the  Titan, 
whose  uproarious  laughter  shook  to  the  roots 
mediaeval  institutions,  had  only  a  few  years  to 
live,  he  died  in  1553. 

iog 


Margaret  of  France 

In  1549,  new  figures  were  coming  upon  the 
stage  and  a  new  spirit  was  at  work  in  the  French 
Renaissance.  It  was  but  a  tentative  innovation 
in  language  and  in  literature  over  which  the  first 
Margaret  had  been  called  to  preside,  our  Margaret 
was  to  be  the  inspirer  of  a  great  literary  revolution. 

The  first  bugle-note  of  this  Revolution  was 
sounded  by  Du  Bellay  when  in  this  year  he 
published  La  Deffence  et  Illustration  de  la  Langue 
Fran  false,  which  was  the  manifesto  of  the  new 
school.  The  call  to  arms  was  immediately 
answered  by  the  young  poets  of  the  day  ranging 
themselves  into  a  phalanx  known  first  as  La 
Brigade  and  later  with  growing  ambition,  soaring 
to  the  skies  as  la  Pleiade. 

Of  this  constellation  Pierre  de  Ronsard  was 
the  central  star,  and  round  him  revolved  Joachim 
du  Bellay,  Antoine  de  Baif,  Jean  Daurat,  Pontus 
de  Tyard,  Etienne  Jodelle  and  Remy  Belleau. 

In  honour  of  la  docte  et  gracieuse  Marguerite  all 
these  poets  wrote  verses.  To  Margaret  they 
looked  for  encouragement  and  reward.  She  was 
their  Pallas  Athene. 

Thus,  as  the  goddess  of  peace  and  wisdom,  the 
patroness  of  art  and  letters,  is  Margaret  repre- 
sented by  the  beautiful  Limoges  enamel  in  the 
Wallace  Collection.  It  was  executed  on  copper, 
according  to  the  inscription  it  bears,  in  1555,  just 
when  La  Brigade,  under  Margaret's  banner,  were 
marching  to  victory.     In  this  picture  the  virgin 


no 


MARGARET    OF    FRANCE    As    I'M. I. AS    ATHENK 
From  a  Limoges  Enamel,  signed  " Jehan  de  Court,''  in  the  Wallace  Collection 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

daughter  of  King  Francis  is  represented  as  bear- 
ing those  symbols  with  which  the  Greeks  used  to 
portray  the  maiden  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Heaven.  Seated  upon  the  orb  of  the  world,  with 
a  helmet  by  her  side,  Margaret  in  her  right  hand 
holds  the  lance,  while  her  left  rests  upon  the  aegis 
with  the  Gorgon's  head,  and,  at  her  feet,  beneath 
which  are  two  ponderous  tomes,  sits  the  bird  of 
learning,  the  owl.  The  author  of  this  lovely 
picture,  the  prevailing  colours  of  which  are  blue 
and  green,  is — again  according  to  the  inscription 
— Jehan  de  Court.  He  may  have  been  that  same 
Jean  Court  who  was  appointed  painter  to  the 
King  on  the  death  of  Francois  Clouet,  in  1573. 1 

Margaret  was  naturally  flattered  by  the  homage 
of  the  poets  in  exalting  her  to  be  their  Pallas 
Athene.  And,  as  appropriate  to  her  role  of  goddess 
of  peace  and  wisdom,  she  adopted  as  her  emblem 
an  olive  branch  wound  about  with  a  serpent,  with 
the  device :  "  Wisdom,  guardian  of  all  things  " 
(Rerum  custos  sapientice).  Indeed  just  then  the 
new  poets  had  great  need  of  the  serpent's  wisdom 
and  of  Athene's  lance  and  shield.  For  at  court 
La  Brigade  was  unpopular  ;  the  King,  on  the 
rare  occasions  when  he  took  any  interest  in  litera- 
ture, was  inclined  to  favour  the  older  poets  of 
Marot's  school,  one  of  whom,  Mellin  de  Saint- 
Gelais,  was  his  chaplain  and  poet  laureate. 

1  Louis  Dimier  (French  Painting  in  the  XVIth  Century,  p.  238) 
is  not  absolutely  certain  on  this  point. 

in 


Margaret  of  France 

One  day,  surrounded  by  the  lords  and  ladies  of 
the  court,  Henry  inquired  of  Saint-Gelais  his 
opinion  of  the  new  writer,  Pierre  de  Ronsard. 
"  Nought  but  a  conceited  youth,  a  mere  imitator 
of  Pindar,"  was  the  poet's  reply.  And,  taking  up 
Ronsard's  latest  poem,  an  Ode  in  honour  of 
Henry  II,  Saint-Gelais  read  it  aloud  in  such  a 
mocking  tone  that  its  graceful  lines  became 
ridiculous.  Henry  laughed  and  his  courtiers 
joined  in  the  jest.  But  Margaret  was  present,  and 
she  could  not  endure  to  hear  good  lines  thus 
murdered.  Advancing  quickly,  she  snatched  the 
manuscript  from  Mellin's  hand  and  read  the  poem 
in  such  a  manner  that  mockery  was  turned  to 
admiration.1 

From  that  moment  La  Brigade's  fortunes  were 
made.  Margaret  had  slain  the  monster  Ignorance. 
Beneath  the  shield  of  their  Pallas  Athene  the 
new  poets  might  shelter  from  the  venomous  darts 
of  Mellin  and  his  school.  In  Margaret,  Ronsard  and 
his  friends  beheld  their  tenth  Muse,  their  fourth 
Grace,  the  Nurse  of  their  Helicon,  the  Nymph  in 
whom  centred  all  their  hopes. 

Elated  by  the  triumph  which  Margaret  had  won 
for  their  verses,  the  new  poets  did  not  scruple  to 
take  revenge  on  their  discomfited  adversary. 
Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais  fared  badly  at  their  hands. 

1  See  Ronsard,  CEuvres  Completes  (ed.  Blanchemain),  VIII, 
pp.  22  et  seq.  ;  Saint  Gelais  (ed.  ibid.),  Introduction,  pp.  23  and  24. 
Also  Artigny,  Nouveaux  Mimoires,  V,  p.  204. 

112 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

Joachim  du  Bellay  flayed  him  alive  in  the  most 
piquant  of  his  satires,  Le  Poete  Courtisan. 

Ron  sard  thanked  Margaret  in  verse  for  having 
stood  by  him  when  his  work  was  Mellinise  and 
when  his  fame  was  barked  at  as  a  dog  barks  at 
the  moon. 

So  high  did  the  quarrel  rage  that  Margaret  had 

to  intervene.    Aided  by  her  diplomatic  Chancellor, 

l'Hospital,   and  by  her  own  unerring  tact,   she 

effected  a  reconciliation  between  Mellin  and  his 

foes.    From  the  second  edition  of  his  Odes  Ronsard 

was   persuaded   to   omit   the   lines   paraphrased 

above  and  to  insert  an  Ode  in  which  he  graciously 

bestowed  his  pardon  upon  Saint-Gelais.     While 

Joachim  du  Bellay,  at  Margaret's  request,  flattered 

the  elder  poet  to  the  top  of  his  bent  in  an  Ode, 

beginning  : 

"  Mellin,  que  cherit  et  honor e 
La  cour  du  Roy,  plein  de  bonheur  ; 
Mellin,  que  France  avoir e  encore 
Des  Muses  le  premier  honneur," 

Saint-Gelais  replied  with  a  sonnet  in  honour  of 
Ronsard.  And  to  the  joy  of  the  peace-loving 
Margaret  the  clash  of  arms  died  away  on  Mt. 
Helicon.  On  poets  of  both  schools  the  Princess 
could  now,  with  open  hand,  lavish  rewards, 
abbeys  and  all  manner  of  benefices  and  high 
offices,  the  presidency  of  a  college  for  a  translation 
of  Horace,  a  seat  in  the  King's  council  for  an 
elegant  Latin  poem. 

i  113 


Margaret  of  France 

Among  the  new  poets  Ronsard  was  the  most 
richly  rewarded.  He  had  every  reason  to  bless 
the  day  when  President  Bouju  introduced  him  to 
Margaret,  who  obtained  for  him  a  handsome  pen- 
sion from  Henry  II  as  well  as  abbeys  and  other 
benefices.  Even  after  her  marriage  and  departure 
from  France  she  did  not  forget  her  friend.  In 
1560  she  wrote  to  Catherine  de  Medicis,  asking 
for  some  benefice  for  Ronsard  in  order  that  he 
may  "  continue  the  labours,  which,  until  now, 
he  has  undertaken  for  the  profit  and  honour  of 
France."  1 

In  return  for  these  favours  the  poet  consecrated 

to  his  benefactress  a  rich  garland  of  song.    There 

is  not  one  collection  of  his  works  which  does  not 

contain  poems  dedicated  to  Margaret  or  inspired 

by  her  memory.    If  her  fame  has  lived  in  history, 

it  is  largely,  as  a  recent  sonnet  records,  due  to 

Ronsard's  lines  : 

"  Et  si  son  nom  garde  une  histoire 
C'est  que  le  bon  Ronsard  a  mis 
Un  pen  d' amour  sur  sa  memoir  e."  2 

Ronsard,  firmly  convinced  that  his  own  fame 
would  endure,  himself  foretold  that  he  would 
hand  down  Margaret's  name  to  posterity  : 

"  Je  publi'ray  parmi  la  France 
Le  loz  de  ta  divinite, 
Tes  vertus,  bontez  et  doctrine 

1  Ronsard,  CEuvres  (ed.  Blanchemain),  VIII,  pp.  137-8. 

2  Pierre  de  Nolhac,  Poems  de  France  et  d'ltalie,  pp.  30,  31. 

114 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

Les  vrais  boucliers  de  ta  poitrine, 

Blanchissante  en  virginite  ; 

Ann  qu'apr&s  ma  vois  fiddle, 

Au  soir,  a  la  tarde  chandelle, 

Les  meres,  faisant  oeuvres  maints, 

Content  tes  vertus  precieuses 

A  leur  filles  non  ocieuses, 

Pour  tromper  le  temps  et  leurs  mains. 

Peut-estre  aussi,  alors  que  l'age 

Aura  tout  brouille  ton  lignage, 

Le  peuple  qui  lira  mes  vers, 

Abreuve'  d'une  gloire  telle, 

Ne  te  dira  femme  mor telle, 

Mais  soeur  de  Pallas  aux  yeux  vers, 

Et  te  fera  des  edifices 

Tous  enfumez  de  sacrifices, 

Si  bien  que  le  siecle  avenir 

Ne  congoistra  que  Marguerite 

Immortalisant  ton  merite 

D'un  perdurable  souvenir."  x 

It  was  not  always,  however,  as  in  Ronsard's 
case,  that  just  the  right  people  were  rewarded. 
Too  often  Margaret  permitted  the  keenness  of 
her  critical  sense  to  be  dulled  by  the  kindness  of 
her  heart.  L'Hospital  urged  her  to  show  more 
discrimination  in  her  patronage.2  Jodelle,  the 
tragic  poet  of  the  Pleiade,  complained  that  in  her 
temple  "  hoarse  crows  "  were  permitted  to  take 
rank  with  the  "  rarest  swans."3 

1  A  Madame  Marguerite,  CEuvres  (ed.  Blanchemain),  II,  pp. 
308-9. 

2  Ep.  I,  CEuvres,  III,  pp.  81-85. 

3  Ronsard,  CEuvres,  V,  p.  7,  Epistre  d'Etienne  Jodelle,  Parisien, 
a  Madame  Marguerite,  Duchesse  de  Savoie. 

"5 


Margaret  of  France 

Sometimes,  says  Ronsard,  Margaret  was  caused 
to  blush  and  shake  her  head  by  the  absurd  ful- 
someness  of  the  flattery  to  which  her  admirers 
descended.  Thus  Francois  de  Billon  dedicated  to 
the  Princess  a  fantastic  work,  called  Le  Fort 
inexpugnable  de  I'honneur  du  sexe  feminin,  where- 
in he  explained  that  Margaret  was  not  her- 
self an  author  because  of  the  jealousy  of  the 
gods  who  permitted  her  as  seldom  as  possible 
to  take  pen  in  hand.  For  her  acquaintance  with 
some  of  the  most  brilliant  of  her  literary  friends 
Margaret  was  indebted  to  a  gentleman  of  the 
court,  one  Jean  de  Morel,  Seigneur  de  Grigny. 
Without  being  himself  a  writer,  Morel  was  the 
friend  of  all  the  most  eminent  French  authors 
of  the  day.  His  taste,  his  learning  and  his  friend- 
ship with  Erasmus,  whom  he  had  tended  in  his 
last  illness,  threw  open  to  him  the  doors  of  literary 
society  when,  in  1536,  he  came  to  Paris.  It  also 
prepared  his  way  at  court  ;  and  in  that  year  he 
was  appointed  maitre  d'hotel  to  Henry,  then  Duke 
of  Orleans,  and  mareschal  du  logis  to  Henry's  wife, 
Catherine.  Later  he  became  tutor  to  Henry's 
natural  son,  Henry  d'Angouleme.1  And  from  the 
first  he  was  the  friend  of  Henry's  sister. 

Then  as  now  literary  Paris  tended  to  dwell  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  and  especially  in  the 
narrow  streets  with  their  tall  houses  near  where 
the  Institute  now  stands.    Abounding  in  memories 

1  His  mother  was  Lady  Fleming,  Mary  Stuart's  governess. 

116 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

of  old  literary  Paris  is  La  Rue  St.  Andre-des-Arcs 
(now  corrupted  into  des  Arts)  which  turns  out  of 
a  little  carre/our  made  by  the  end  of  La  Rue 
Mazarin,  La  Rue  de  l'Ancienne  Comedie  and 
La  Rue  de  Bucy.  Wandering  down  this  ancient 
thoroughfare  in  the  direction  of  the  Boulevard 
St.  Michel,  one  passes  some  fine  old  dwellings. 
But  most  of  the  old  houses  facing  the  narrow 
street  have  disappeared,  and  one  has  to  turn  in 
behind  the  modern  buildings  to  discover  old  court- 
yards, quaint  passages  and  even  an  ancient  square 
tower,  recalling  the  war  towers  of  mediaeval  Italian 
cities.  With  the  aid  of  a  tablet  on  number  49, 
one  may  trace  the  site  of  the  old  Hotel  de  Navarre, 
which  was  the  favourite  residence  of  Margaret's 
grandfather,  Louis  XII,  before  his  accession  to  the 
throne  and  when  he  was  Duke  of  Orleans.  One 
looks  in  vain,  however,  for  a  tablet  to  indicate 
the  position  of  Jean  de  Morel's  house,  yet  here  he 
lived  and  here  also  dwelt  his  still  more  famous 
friend,  Michel  de  l'Hospital. 

In  culture  and  in  learning  Morel's  family  was 
equal  to  any  of  the  accomplished  Renaissance 
households,  to  Robert  Etienne's,  the  printer's,  or 
to  that  of  our  own  Sir  Thomas  More.  Morel's 
wife,  Antoinette  de  Luynes,  good,  wise  and  accom- 
plished, wrote  Greek  and  Latin  verse.  His  three 
daughters,  Camille,  Lucrece  and  Diane,  "  as 
beautiful  as  they  were  learned,"  instructed  in 
classics  by  the  famous  scholar  of  Ghent,   Jean 

117 


Margaret  of  France 

Utenhove,1  became,  as  their  contemporaries  tell 
us,  the  wonder  of  the  age,  and,  as  we  may  read 
for  ourselves,  the  theme  of  many  a  poet's  song. 

In  his  hotel  in  Saint-Andre-des-Arcs,  sur- 
rounded by  his  wife  and  daughters,  "  like  Apollo 
among  the  Muses,"  the  Seigneur  de  Grigny  re- 
ceived poets,  philosophers  and  professors.  And 
his  house,  like  the  mansion  in  La  Rue  Notre  Dame 
du  Comfort,2  at  Lyon,  became  a  true  literary 
salon,  the  parent  of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  and 
the  literary  salons  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
its  turn  almost  every  French  salon  or  group  of 
salons  has  been  the  cradle  of  some  important 
literary  or  social  movement.  In  Madame  de 
Rambouillet 's  Blue  Room,  grammarians  and  poets 
set  up  a  standard  of  purity  in  diction  and  pre- 
cision in  form,  which,  borne  aloft  by  the  French 
Academy,  revolutionised  the  French  language. 
In  the  bureaux  d' esprit  of  the  eighteenth  century 
conferred  those  writers  of  the  Encyclopedie  who 
were  to  sweep  away  the  ancien  regime.  And  two 
centuries  earlier  in  Madame  de  Morel's  parlour  la 
Brigade  was  ordering  its  ranks  for  a  crusade 
against  confusion  in  thought  and  chaos  in  rhyme 
and  metre. 

Madame  de  Morel's  salon,  besides  being  the 
recruiting  ground  of  la  Brigade,  was  the  cradle 

1  At  Cranmer's  invitation  Utenhove  came  to  England  and 
spent  there  the  last  years  of  his  life. 

2  See  ante  p.  86 

u8 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

of  the  earliest  French  Academy.  The  institution 
founded  by  Richelieu  and  by  Conrart  is  too  often 
regarded  as  the  first  of  its  kind  in  France.  But 
an  earlier  Academy  existed  in  the  previous  cen- 
tury. And  its  founders  were  the  guests  of  Madame 
de  Morel,  Ronsard,  Antoine  de  Baif  and  the  other 
members  of  la  Brigade.  It  held  its  first  meeting 
in  1570,  and  six  years  later  was  invited  by 
Henry  III  to  assemble  in  the  Louvre,  being  called 
henceforth  L'Academie  du  Palais.  Its  life  was 
but  a  short  one,  owing  to  the  Wars  of  the  League. 
But  in  a  manuscript  in  the  Royal  Library  of 
Copenhagen  there  are  preserved  no  less  than 
seventeen  orations  delivered  by  Ronsard,  Des- 
portes  and  others,  at  the  Academie  du  Palais  in 
the  presence  of  King  Henry.1 

Not  far  from  la  Rue  St.  Andre-des-Arcs  was 
another  literary  centre  of  Paris,  le  Mont  St.  Hilaire, 
where  was  the  famous  printing-press  of  Michel 
Fezandat.2  And  here  in  the  Rue  Chartriere,  on 
the  site  of  the  ancient  Hotel  de  Bourgogne,  was 
the  College  Coqueret,  where  Ronsard  and  his 
young  friend  Antoine  de  Baif  studied  Greek  with 
the  greatest  Hellenist  of  the  day,  Daurat,  or,  as 
he  preferred  to  call  himself,  Auratus.  When, 
having  risen  at  five  in  the  morning,  the  brains  of 
pupils  and  teacher  grew  weary,  they  were  pleased 

1  Fremy,  L'Academie  des  Valois. 

2  Here  was  printed  Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite  de  Valois,  see 
post  p.  121. 

119 


Margaret  of  France 

to  drop  into  Madame  de  Morel's,  where  they  might 
meet  the  poet-bishop,  Lancelot  de  Carle,  brother- 
in-law  to  Montaigne's  friend,  Etienne  de  la 
Boetie,  or  Jean  de  la  Vigne,  who  was  to  represent 
France  at  Constantinople,  or  Joachim  du  Bellay, 
the  melancholy  Jacques  of  the  assembly,  who 
lived  not  far  away,  in  the  Cloister  of  Notre  Dame, 
or  perhaps  Pontronius,  the  tutor  of  Madam  Mar- 
garet, fresh  from  reading  Aristotle  with  the  King's 
sister. 

Women  guests  too  might  be  found  at  Madame 
de  Morel's.  With  Salmon  Macrin,  the  Horace  of 
the  day,1  came  his  beautiful  wife  whom  he  called 
by  the  Greek  name  of  Gelonis,2  with  Daurat  came 
his  learned  daughter,  Magdalene,  and  with  Michel 
de  1' Hospital,  from  their  house  hard  by,  came  his 
grave,  gentle  spouse,  Marie  Morin.  And  there 
was  one  woman,  who  if  not  present  in  person  was 
in  the  minds  of  all  Madame  de  Morel's  guests  ;  in 
her  they  centred  their  hopes — she  was  the  tutelary 
goddess  of  the  salon.  To  Margaret,  one  by  one, 
the  good  M.  de  Morel  presented  first  the  works  of 
his  friends  and  then  the  authors,  until  the  parlour 
in  the  Rue  St.  Andre-des-Arcs  became  a  veritable 
ante-chamber  to  Margaret's  presence. 

In  1547,  having  read  a  Latin  epistle  which 
Michel  de  1' Hospital  had  addressed  to  her  from 
Bologna,  Margaret  invited  Morel  to  bring  her  the 

1  Known  also  as  Maigret  or  Macrinus. 

2  See  Joachim  du  Bellay's  poem  on  the  death  of  Gelonis. 

120 


TOMBEAV 

DE   M^RGVERlTE  DE    V  *4~> 

LOIS     KOYNE    DE     NAVARRE. 

S3 

Fai&  premierementen  Di fticques  LaunsparlestroisSceurs 
Pnncelfes  en  Angleterre.  Depuis  tradui&zen  Grec.Italic, 
Sc  Francois  par  plulleurs  des  excellentz  Poetes  de  la  Frace. 

^■iuecnnes plnfieurs  odes,  Hymnes,  Cantic^iies^pi- 
taphcsjfwrle  tnefmefnbiecl. 


O 

S 

< 
-i 

m 
z 


2 
ts 

Xr* 

tn 

< 

W 
2 


PARIS. 


PcHmprimeriede  Michel  Fczandat ,  &  Rc'oert  Granlon 
au  moiu  S.Hilaire  a  l'enfeigne  des  Grans  Ions,  &  au  Pakis 
en  la  boutique  de  Vincent  Sartenas. 


I  5  S  I. 


AVEC     fMVILEGE     DV     V^OX. 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

author  when  he  should  return  from  Italy.  And, 
no  sooner  had  he  been  presented  to  her  than 
quickly  discerning  the  young  lawyer's  high  merit, 
she  appointed  him  Chancellor  of  the  duchy  of  Berry, 
which  the  King  had  recently  conferred  upon  her.1 

Margaret  was  not  mistaken  in  her  estimate 
of  l'Hospital.  He  proved  to  be  a  man  after  her 
own  heart,  a  strong  pillar  of  learning  and  of  law, 
an  advocate  of  justice  and  of  peace,  one  of  the  few 
who  in  that  bigoted  age  both  preached  and 
practised  the  doctrine  of  religious  liberty. 

No  sooner  was  l'Hospital  Margaret's  chancellor 
than  he  began  to  follow  his  friend  Morel's  example 
and  to  play  the  Maecenas. 

He  it  was  who  presented  to  Margaret  a  tiny 
book,  which  is  of  especial  interest  to  English 
readers,  for  it  originated  in  England  and  with 
three  English  maidens,  Anne,  Margaret  and  Jane 
Seymour,  the  three  eldest  daughters  of  the  Duke 
of  Somerset,  Lord  Protector,  and  of  his  second 
wife,  Anne  Stanhope.  Entitled  Le  Tombeau  de 
Marguerite  de  Valois  this  little  octavo  volume 
was  one  of  those  collections  of  verses  by  various 
hands  written  on  the  death  and  in  the  memory  of 
some  famous  personage,2  which  were  then  greatly 
in  vogue. 

1  In  1 550,  on  the  death  of  the  first  Margaret,  who  was  Duchess 
of  Berry. 

2  Like  the  volume  in  memory  of  Edward  King,  of  which 
Milton's  Lycidas  formed  a  part.     See  also  Le  Tombeau  d'Em- 

121 


Margaret  of  France 

The  inception  of  the  work  was  related  by 
l'Hospital  in  a  Latin  epistle  to  Margaret,  which 
he  sent  to  her  with  the  book. 

"  You  have  here,  sweet  maid,"1  he  wrote  to 
Margaret,  "  goodliest  poems  of  renowned  singers, 
as  yet  not  read  by  me,  who,  wearied  of  this  thank- 
less unceasing  task  of  mine,  foster-child  of  brawls 
and  strife,2  have  dwelt3  far  from  city  and  from 
forum,  close  held  by  love  for  the  country-side, 
these  ten  days  past.  .  .  .  This  golden  book,  you 
must  know,  had  its  first  beginning  in  far-away 
Britain  and  in  the  Latin  tongue.  Thence  it  made 
its  way  across  the  Straits  and  the  sea  the  sailor 
dreads,  and  reached  the  French  and  the  city  of 
Paris.  There  hands  and  tongues  have  been  busy 
with  the  new-come  guest.     The  theme  and  its 

manuel  Philibert,  post  p.  314.  Our  Margaret  too  was  to  have  her 
Tombeau.  See  Bibl.  Mazarine,  No.  32,851.  "  L 'ombre  et  le 
tombeau  de  la  trds  haute  et  tres  puissante  dame  Marguerite  de 
France,  en  son  vivant  duchesse  de  Savoie  et  de  Berry,  fait  et  com- 
pose premierement  en  langue  latine  par  R.  d'Er  et  puis  traduit  en 
francais  par  Endi,  imprime  a  Turin  le  17  Oct.,  1574,  par  Baptiste 
d' Almeida  (small  8°)." 

1  Michel  de  l'Hospital,  CEuvres  (ed.  cit.),  Ill,  p.  251,  et  seq. 

2  Possibly  referring  to  his  seat  in  the  Parlement  of  Paris. 
The  history  of  this  counsellorship  is  curious.  It  was  bestowed  by 
Francis  I  on  l'Hospital's  father-in-law,  the  King's  lieutenant 
criminel,  Morin,  as  a  reward  for  his  zeal  in  prosecuting  heretics, 
and  it  was  to  pass  as  dowry  to  the  husband  of  the  lieutenant' s 
daughter,  Marie.  Thus  in  his  early  manhood  l'Hospital,  the 
apostle  of  religious  liberty,  was  dependent  on  the  reward  of 
religious  persecution. 

3  Probably  at  his  father's  country-seat  of  Vitry  on  the  Maine. 

122 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

treatment  pleased  our  poets,  and  some  straight- 
way turned  it  into  their  mother-tongue  ;  others 
into  Greek  and  others  again  into  Italian  ;  anon 
it  was  their  pleasure  to  add  verses  of  their  own 
making  to  those  they  had  translated  and  thus  to 
give  to  the  whole  the  form  of  a  well-filled  volume." 

Thus  did  l'Hospital  briefly  epitomise  the  history 
of  the  book  he  was  presenting  to  Margaret.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  add  further  details  to  his  narrative 
and  to  supply  a  few  names  and  dates. 

It  was  in  1549,  the  year  of  the  first  Margaret's 
death,  that  the  Seymour  sisters  composed  in  her 
honour  their  two  hundred  Latin  couplets.  Their 
former  tutor,  Nicolas  Denisot,  a  Frenchman,  an 
artist  and  something  of  a  poet,  was  then  in  Paris. 
And  to  him  they  sent  their  verses,  which  Denisot 
showed  to  Ronsard  and  other  poets  of  La  Brigade. 
Apparently  at  the  suggestion  of  these  writers,  in 
1550,  the  English  girls'  verses  were  published, 
together  with  some  Greek  epigrams  and  Latin 
lines  by  certain  members  of  La  Brigade,  Denisot 
himself,  Daurat,  Antoine  de  Baif  and  others. 
The  title  of  the  book  in  this  its  first  edition  was 
Annce,  Margaritce,  Jance,  Sororum  Virginum, 
heroidum  Anglarum  in  mortem  Margaritce  Valesice 
Navarrorum  Regince  Hecadistichon. 

In  the  following  year,  as  l'Hospital  related, 
the  book  assumed  another  and  a  more  interesting 
form.  Ronsard  and  Joachim  du  Bellay  con- 
tributed   original   poems,    hitherto    unpublished, 

123 


Margaret  of  France 

Nicolas  Denisot — who  was  a  better  artist  than 
poet — a  frontispiece  in  the  shape  of  an  excellent 
woodcut,  a  portrait  of  Margaret  of  Angouleme 
at  fifty-two,  wearing  a  severely  simple  coif  and 
a  furred  gown,  and  holding  in  long  thin  fingers 
a  richly  bound  volume  with  untied  book-strings. 
Under  the  anagram  of  le  Comte  d'Alsinois, 
Denisot  also  contributed  a  rhetorical  dedication 
to  Madam  Margaret,  Duchess  of  Berry,  while  the 
Seymour  maidens  were  addressed  in  an  elaborate 
eulogy  from  the  pen  of  Herberay  des  Essars,  the 
translator  into  French  of  the  popular  Spanish 
romance,  I'Amadis  de  Gaule.  The  volume  was 
still  further  expanded  by  the  translation  of  the 
original  Latin  couplets  into  Greek,  Italian  and 
various  French  versions  ;  into  Greek,  by  none 
other  than  the  great  Hellenist,  Jean  Daurat, 
into  Italian  by  the  translator  of  Ariosto,  Jean 
Pierre  de  Mesme,  who  wrote  under  the  initials 
J.  P.  D.  M.  ;  into  French  by  four  members  of 
La  Brigade,  Joachim  du  Bellay,  who  wrote 
under  the  initials  J.  D.  B.  A.  (standing  for  Joachim 
du  Bellay,  Angevin),  Jean  Antoine  de  Baif, 
Nicolas  Denisot  and  Damoiselle  A.  D.  L.,  who 
is  none  other  than  the  mistress  of  the  salon  in 
La  Rue  St.  Andre-des-Arcs,  Madame  de  Morel, 
writing  under  her  maiden  name  of  Damoiselle 
Antoinette  de  Loynes. 

Thus   furnished   forth   with   the   learning,    the 
literary  skill  and  the  artistic  taste  of  the  Renais- 

124 


Margaret  and  Men  of  Letters 

sance,  a  symbol  not  unworthy  of  the  bond  which 
united  scholars  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel, 
this  little  volume  made  its  way  into  the  presence 
of  Madam  Margaret. 

By  the  English  maidens'  tribute  of  praise  to 
her  illustrious  aunt  the  second  Margaret  must 
have  been  gratified.  But  of  the  literary  value 
of  their  lines  she  can  have  formed  no  high  opinion. 
Both  the  original  and  the  translations  were  very 
far  from  being  true  poetry.  Yet  the  Seymour 
verses  are  interesting,  chiefly  as  showing  the  in- 
fluence of  the  elder  Margaret's  work  on  her  youth- 
ful admirers.  Their  tutor,  Denisot,  had  been  Mar- 
garet's personal  friend.  And  he  doubtless  would 
have  introduced  her  writings  to  his  pupils. 
But  even  outside  their  family  her  poems  were 
well  known,  for  Princess  Elizabeth  at  the  age  of 
eleven  had  translated  into  English  Margaret's 
Miroir  de  I'Ame  Pecheresse.1 

1  For  the  careers  of  the  Seymour  sisters  and  of  their  tutor, 
Denisot,  see  Appendices  B  and  C. 


125 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE    ROMANCE    OF    JOACHIM    DU    BELLAY 

Margaret  at  Les  Tournelles  in  1549 — Morel  presents  her  with 
Du  Bellay's  works,  La  Deffence  and  l' Olive — Was  l'Olive 
Margaret  ? — Margaret's  Kindness  dispels  the  Poet's  Melan- 
choly— The  Gift  of  a  Handkerchief — Du  Bellay  in  Rome — 
Les  Regrets — His  grief  at  Margaret's  departure  from  France — 
His  early  death,  1560. 

' '  La  saincte  horreur  que  sentent 
Tous  ceulx  qui  se  presentent 
Craintifs  devant  les  dieux 
Rendoit  ma  muse  lente, 
Bien  qu'elle  fust  bruslente 
De  s'offrir  a  voz  yeulx." 

Joachim  du  Bellay  d  tres  illustre  Princesse 
Madame  Marguerite. 

THE  most  ardent  of  Margaret's  literary 
adorers  was  the  melancholy  Jacques 
of  Madame  de  Morel's  salon,  Joachim 
du  Bellay.  Ronsard  might  forsake 
Margaret,  his  "  divine  pearl,"  for  Marie,  Helene 
or  Cassandre ;  Du  Bellay,  not  even  on  those 
rare  occasions  when  he  yielded  to  another's 
charms,1  ever  forgot  the  royal  lady  who  was 
Le  seul  appuy  et  colonne  de  toute  son  esperance. 

1  The  Latin  verses  in  which  Du  Bellay  tells  of  his  love  for 
Faustine,  a  beautiful  Roman  lady,  are  dedicated  to  Margaret. 

126 


The  Romance  of  Joachim  du  Bellay 

Like  l'Hospital,  Du  Bellay  was  presented  to 
Margaret  by  the  good  Seigneur  de  Grigny,  Jean 
de  Morel.  This  introduction  was  the  turning- 
point  in  the  poet's  career.  It  happened  in  June, 
1549,  when  the  Princess  with  the  King  and  Queen 
had  come  to  the  Palace  of  Les  Tournelles  x  for 
Henry's  triumphal  entry  into  his  capital  and 
for  Catherine's  coronation  at  Saint-Denis. 
Throughout  this  reign  the  greater  part  of  the 
Louvre  was  undergoing  complete  reconstruction 
and  was  uninhabitable,  and  so  Les  Tournelles 
became  the  favourite  royal  residence.  The  palace 
stood  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Place  des 
Vosges,  just  within  the  St.  Antoine  Gate,  flanked 
on  the  north  by  a  wooded  park  and  on  the  south 
by  the  Hotel  d'Angouleme. 

In  those  June  days  Paris,  the  "heart  of  Christen- 
dom," and  compendium  Orbis,  was  all  astir  with 
preparations  for  the  great  pageant  of  the  King's 
entry.  To  witness  the  show  multitudes  had 
flocked  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom.  Vincent 
Carloix,  that  picturesque  but  inaccurate  author 
of  Vieilleville's  Memoirs,  gives  a  Gargantuan 
account  of  the  procession,  in  which,  he  says, 
figured  no  less  than  two  thousand  pages.  But, 
while  mistrusting  his  numbers,  we  may  believe 
Carloix  when  he  tells  how  the  streets  were  sump- 

1  Breul  (Aniiquitez  de  Paris,  pp.  781-3)  identifies  Les  Tour- 
nelles with  the  Hotel  de  St.  Paul,  so  named  from  the  church  at 
its  gates,  and  built  by  Charles  V.,  1364-80. 

127 


Margaret  of  France 

tuously  decorated  with  arches,  pyramids  and 
obelisks,  how  of  gold  and  azure  there  was  no 
meagre  display,  and  how  embroidered  upon  the 
hangings  might  be  read  eloquent  lines  in  Greek 
and  Latin  by  the  learned  Daurat  and  odes  in 
French  by  the  divine  Ronsard.  In  the  summer 
of  1549,  Paris,  Joachim  du  Bellay  tells  us,  threw 
care  to  the  winds  and  every  house  was  bathed  in 
pleasure. 

Amidst  the  shows  and  feasting  of  this  Annus 
Mirabilis,  Margaret  found  time  to  read  two 
new  books,  a  volume  of  prose  and  a  collection 
of  verse.  They  were  both  by  Joachim  du  Bellay. 
One  was  La  Deffence  et  Illustration  de  la  Langue 
Francaise,  and  the  other  a  series  of  sonnets 
entitled  V Olive.  No  sooner  had  Margaret  read 
them  than  she  wished  to  know  their  author. 

La  Deffence  appealed  to  her  because  it  glorified 
the  possibilities  inherent  in  her  mother  tongue. 
L'Olive  may  have  touched  her  in  a  more  personal 
manner.  For  there  are  those  who  would  have 
us  believe  that  Olive,  the  mysterious  lady  of 
these  sonnets,  is  none  other  than  Margaret  her- 
self, whom  Du  Bellay  had  long  adored  from  afar. 

For  many  a  year  Olive  was  thought  to  have 
been  a  Parisian  lady  belonging  to  the  well- 
known  family  of  Viole,  whose  name  Du  Bellay, 
following  the  prevailing  fashion  for  anagrams, 
was  believed  to  have  turned  into  Olive.  But  no 
trace   has   yet   been   discovered   of  Du   Bellay's 

128 


The  Romance  of  Joachim  du  Bellay 

acquaintance  with  the  Viole  family,  whereas 
numerous  poems  and  letters  attest  his  admiration 
for  Margaret  even  before  he  knew  her.  Years 
after  his  presentation  to  the  Princess,  the  poet, 
in  a  letter  to  More],  wrote  of  Margaret  as  "  the 
divine  spirit  "  to  whom  he  long  ago  consecrated 
all  "  the  fruit  of  his  industry."  Hence  M.  Leon 
Seche x  has  recently  propounded  the  not  im- 
probable hypothesis  that  Olive  is  Margaret. 
Her  emblem,  as  we  know,  was  an  olive  branch  ; 
and  Daurat,  in  a  Latin  epitaph  introducing  the 
sonnets,  when  he  compares  Du  Bellays'  Olive  to 
the  laurel  of  Petrarch, 

"  Phoebus  amat  laurum,  glaucam  sua  Pallas  olivam, 
I  lie  suum  vatem,  nee  minus  ista  suum," 

was  surely  thinking  of  Margaret  who  was  known 
as  the  Pallas  of  the  Renaissance.  Moreover, 
Du  Bellay's  description  of  his  lady  in  the  sonnets 
themselves  is  the  portrait  of  Margaret.  To  her 
physical  attractions  Olive  adds  intellectual  charms  : 
she  is  literary,  scholarly  and  accomplished,  for  she 
dances  and  sings  and  drives  away  all  care ;  and 
her  thoughts  are  as  high  as  her  expression  is  sweet 
and  serious.  Of  this  there  is  not  one  word  but 
what  is  true  of  Margaret. 

Jean  de  Morel  was  not  slow  to  obey  the  Prin- 
cess's request  and  to  bring  his  friend  into  her 

1  See  CEuvres,  Joachim  du  Bellay  (ed.  Leon  Seche),  I,  I'Olive, 
k.  129 


Margaret  of  France 

presence.  Du  Bellay,  when  the  summons  reached 
him,  was  in  the  moment  of  his  darkest  melancholy. 
Depressed  by  the  shams  of  the  indifferent  poets 
then  infesting  France,  and  despairing  of  the 
acknowledgment  of  true  merit,  he  was  resolving 
to  abandon  poetry  for  some  other  study.  Mar- 
garet's summons  gave  him  fresh  courage.  She 
received  him  with  her  unfailing  amiability  ; 
she  praised  his  past  work,  she  incited  him  to 
further  efforts.  A  new  world  dawned  for  Du 
Bellay.  The  poet's  despair  melted  away  like  a 
morning  mist  and  he  broke  into  a  song  of  triumph  : 

"  Chante  ma  lyre  doncques 
Plus  haul,  que  ne  fit  oncques, 
El  par  mi  Vunivers 
Fay  resonner  sans  cesse 
Le  nom  de  ma  Princesse, 
Seul  honneur  de  mes  vers." 

Margaret  requested  that  Du  Bellay's  next 
volume  should  be  openly  dedicated  to  her. 
Accordingly  in  the  autumn  of  1549  appeared  a 
collection  of  verse  inscribed  to  "  the  very  Illus- 
trious Princess  Madam  Margaret,  Only  Sister  of 
the  King."  And  in  the  next  year  appeared  a 
new  edition  of  l' Olive  considerably  enlarged  and 
now  openly  dedicated  to  Margaret. 

The  adoration  expressed  in  these  two  volumes 
is  one  of  those  conventional  passions  which 
sonnet  writers  usually  affected.     There  is  very 

130 


The  Romance  of  Joachim  du  Bellay 

little  sincerity  or  even  individuality  in  the  con- 
stantly recurring  similes,  which  compare  Olive's 
face  to  a  sun,  her  eyes  to  the  stars,  her  virtues 
to  the  flowers  of  spring,  to  the  fruits  of  autumn, 
to  the  treasures  of  India,  to  the  sparks  from 
Etna  and  to  the  waves  of  the  sea.  But  one  sonnet 
in  the  second  edition  of  I'Olive  strikes  a  more 
personal  note,  the  echo  it  may  be  of  an  incident 
which  really  happened,  Olive's  gift  of  her  hand- 
kerchief to  her  poet  lover.  Such  was  the  freedom 
of  the  Valois  court  and  such  the  easy  manners  of 
our  Margaret  that  she  may  in  very  deed  have 
given  Du  Bellay  her  "  lovely  square  beautifully 
worked,"  her  "  handkerchief  embroidered  with 
her  emblem,"  which  "  he  cherished  as  the  only 
treasure  of  his  sleeve."  Even  greater  condescen- 
sion to  poor  poets  on  the  part  of  kings'  daughters 
was  not  unknown.  Had  not  an  earlier  Margaret  1 
stooped  to  kiss  the  poet  Alain  Chartier  as  he 
slept.  To  Du  Bellay's  heart  his  Olive's  gift  was 
so  dear  that  in  graceful  verse  he  hymned  it 
thus  : 

"  Ce  voile  blanc  que  vous  m'avez  donne, 
Je  le  compare  a  ma  foy  nette  et  franche  : 
L'antique  foy  portoit  la  robbe  blanche, 
Mon  cceur  tout  blanc  est  pour  vous  ordonne. 
Son  beau  carre  d'ouvrage  environne 
Seul  ornement  et  thresor  de  ma  manche, 
Pour  vostre  nom  porte  l'heureux  branche 

1  Margaret  of  Scotland,  daughter  of  King  James  I  and  first 
wife  of  the  Dauphin  Louis,  later  Louis  XL 

131 


Margaret  of  France 

De  l'arbre  sainct,  dont  je  suis  couronne. 

Mille  couleurs  par  l'esguille  y  sont  jointes, 

Amour  a  fait  en  mon  coeur  mille  pointes, 

La  sont  encor'  sans  fruict  bien  mille  fleurs, 

O  voile  heureux,  combien  tu  es  utile 

Pour  essuyer  l'ceil,  qui  en  vain  distile 

Du  fond  du  coeur  mille  ruisseaux  de  pleurs."  x 

But  for  Du  Bellay  was  to  come  a  time 
when  mere  conventional  allusion  and  graceful 
metaphor  was  to  give  way  to  something  deeper 
in  his  poetry.  In  the  train  of  his  kinsman, 
Cardinal  Du  Bellay,  he  went  to  Rome  and  bade 
farewell  to  Margaret.  Then  and  then  only 
did  he  adequately  appreciate  her  charms. 

"Alors,  je  m'aperceu  qu'ignorant  son  merite 
J'avais  sans  la  connaitre  admire  Marguerite 
Comme,  sans  les  connaitre,  on  admire  les  cieux."2 

Banished  from  the  sunshine  of  his  lady's 
presence  to  the  distant  banks  of  the  Tiber  among 
"  the  great  gods  whom  Ignorance  worships," 
Du  Bellay  penned  and  dedicated  to  Margaret 
the  most  beautiful  of  his  poems  Les  Regrets. 
Here,  mourning  that  his  inspiration  has  departed, 
he  strikes  the  note  of  true  sincerity.  "  He  was 
never  a  greater  poet  than  when  he  lamented 
that  he  had  ceased  to  be  one."  3     Sainte-Beuve 

1  Sonnet  LXXII,  Du  Bellay,  (Euvres  Completes  (ed.  Leon 
Seche),  Vol.  I,  p.  127. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  221,  note  1. 

3  Sainte-Beuve,  Nouveaux  Lundis,  XIII,  p.  332. 

132 


The  Romance  of  Joachim  du  Bellay 

calls  Les  Regrets  la  fioesie  intime.  Pater1  develops 
the  same  idea  when  he  writes  :  "  The  very  name 
of  the  book  has  a  touch  of  Rousseau  about  it,  and 
reminds  one  of  a  whole  generation  of  self-pitying 
poets  in  modern  times.  It  was  in  the  atmosphere 
of  Rome,  to  him  so  strange  and  mournful,  that 
these  pale  flowers  grew  up  ;  for  that  journey 
to  Italy,  which  he  deplored  as  the  greatest  mis- 
fortune of  his  life,  put  him  in  full  possession  of 
his  talent  and  brought  out  all  its  originality. 
And  in  effect  you  do  find  intimacy,  intimite  here. 
The  trouble  of  his  life  is  analysed,  and  the  senti- 
ment of  it  conveyed  directly  to  our  minds." 

Du  Bellay  returned  from  Italy  about  1556. 
Three  years  later  Margaret  married  and  left 
France.  During  those  three  years  the  poet  saw 
little  of  his  lady,  for  he  was  deeply  involved  in 
family  quarrels  and,  owing  to  the  frankness  of 
his  verses,  in  a  dispute  with  his  patron,  Cardinal 
du  Bellay.  Moreover,  increasing  deafness,  a 
malady  from  which  in  common  with  Ronsard  he 
had  suffered  for  many  years,  cut  him  off  from  all 
communication  with  the  outer  world  save  by 
writing.  And  on  Margaret's  departure  from 
France,  he  could  not  even  go  to  court  to  bid  her 
farewell. 

The  light  of  Margaret's  favour,  in  earlier, 
happier  days,  had  dispelled  the  gloom  of  the 
poet's   melancholy.      Now   her   absence   plunged 

1  In  The  Renaissance,  Joachim  du  Bellay  (ed.  1877),  159. 

133 


Margaret  of  France 

him  once  more  into  darkness.  "  Spes  et  fortuna 
valete,"  he  wrote  to  Jean  de  Morel.  "  What  use 
is  it  henceforth  to  wrack  one's  brain  for  some- 
thing good,  seeing  that  we  have  lost  .  .  .  the 
presence  of  such  a  princess,  of  her,  who,  since 
the  death  of  that  great  King,  Francis,  the  father 
and  founder  of  good  letters,  hath  remained  the 
only  support  and  refuge  of  virtue  x  and  of  those 
who  profess  it.  I  cannot  continue  to  write  on 
this  subject  without  tears,  the  truest  tears  that 
ever  I  shed."  2 

Margaret  left  France  in  November,  1559. 3 
Two  months  later,  in  January,  1560,  Du  Bellay 
died.  He  could  not  have  been  more  than  thirty- 
eight.4  The  immediate  cause  of  his  death  was 
apoplexy. 

1  In  the  Italian  sense  of  artistic  excellence. 

2  This  famous  letter  is  reproduced  by  Becq  de  Fouqieres, 
CEuvres  Choisies,  p.  321,  by  Pierre  de  Nolhac,  Lettres  de  Joachim 
du  Bellay,  p.  35,  and  by  Sainte-Beuve,  Nouveaux  Lundis,  XIII, 
pp.  352-4. 

3  See  post  p.  214. 

4  The  exact  date  of  his  birth  is  uncertain.  M.  Leon  Seche 
thinks  it  was  1522. 


134 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MARGARET,  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

Margaret's  Gift  for  Government — Her  Salon  at  Bourges — The 
University — Her  Disputes  with  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen — 
Her  Attempts  to  revive  the  Woollen  Industry  of  Bourges. 

"  Ses  sujets  seront  heureux  comme  les  habitants  de  l'Elisee 
ou  ceux  des  isles  fortunees  que  la  Grece  a  placees  dans  le  grand 
Ocean." 

Michel  de  l'Hospital. 

ON   the   19th   of    April,    1550,    Margaret 
succeeded     her    aunt,    the    Queen    of 
Navarre,  as  Duchess  of  Berry,  Henry  II 
having    granted   the   province   as   ap- 
panage to  his  sister  in  accordance  with  a  time- 
honoured  custom. 

No  student  of  Margaret's  life  can  afford  to 
neglect  her  relations  with  Berry  ;  for  they  reveal 
her  in  a  new  role.  In  Berry  she  was  more  than 
the  friend  of  letters,  which  was  the  position  she 
held  at  her  brother's  court  ;  in  Berry  she  was 
a  stateswoman  equally  interested  in  the  com- 
mercial and  social  as  well  as  in  the  intellectual 
development  of  her  subjects.  Indeed,  as  governor 
of  this  province,   Margaret  appears  as  the  true 

135 


Margaret  of  France 

descendant  of  that  wise  king,  Louis  XII,  her 
grandfather,  and  as  the  inheritrix  of  those  gifts 
which  rendered  him  one  of  the  best  of  French 
kings.  It  is  no  exaggeration — although  perhaps  it 
is  no  very  high  praise — to  say  that  in  ruling 
her  province  Margaret  displayed  a  greater  gift 
for  government  than  any  male  member  of  her 
house  in  this  century.1 

The  peacefulness  of  provincial  life  in  Berry 
Margaret  preferred  to  the  noise  and  gaiety  of 
the  court,  the  narrow  streets  and  grim  for- 
tress of  her  capital  of  Bourges  to  the  gilded 
halls  of  Fontainebleau  and  Chambord.  At 
Bourges  Margaret's  residence  must  have  been 
the  great  castle  built  by  John  the  Mag- 
nificent, first  Duke  of  Berry,2  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  mediaeval  builders.  The  Duke, 
with  his  father,  King  John,  had  been  taken 
prisoner  by  the  English  at  Poitiers.  And  it  was 
after  his  return  from  captivity  in  England  that 
he  began  to  construct  this  massive  fortress  at 
Bourges.  All  that  to-day  remains  of  the  castle 
is  its  vast  banqueting  hall.  The  rest  of  the 
building,  with  Duke  John's  beautiful  Sainte 
Chapelle,  has  perished. 

In    this    feudal    fortress,    which,    unlike    most 

1  Louis  XII,  having  died  in  1515,  may  be  taken  as  belonging 
to  the  fifteenth  century. 

a  Invested  with  Berry  in  1360,  died  1416.  See  Pierre 
Champion,  Vie  de  Charles  d'Orleans  (191 1),  pp.  75  et  seq. 

136 


Margaret,  Duchess  of  Berry 

mediaeval  castles,  was  logeable,  or  fairly  com- 
fortable, Margaret  gathered  round  her  literary 
friends  in  such  numbers  that  Duke  John's  strong- 
hold became  the  "  nursery  of  Helicon,"  the 
"hostel  of  the  Muses."  Here  the  Duchess  founded 
a  literary  salon  ;  here  she  established  what  the 
poets  called  "  her  school  of  knowledge  and  of 
virtue."  Around  her  learned  board  (sa  docte 
table)  assembled  poets  of  the  Pleiade,  "  beguiling 
with  their  verses  the  tedium  of  the  repast  "  and 
professors  of  the  university  disputing  hotly  on 
all  manner  of  subjects  with  a  freedom  tolerated 
nowhere  else  in  France.  Presiding  alike  over 
recitation  and  dispute,  at  the  head  of  the  board 
sat  the  gentle  Duchess,  "  the  queen  and  arbitress 
of  conversation." 

Throughout  the  nine  years  (1550-1559)  of 
her  close  connection  with  Berry,  Margaret  de- 
voted much  time  and  thought  to  the  University 
of  Bourges.  Founded  in  1463  by  Louis  XI,  the 
university,  like  the  English  universities  of  that 
day,  had  owed  much  to  women.  Louis  XI's 
unhappy  daughter,  Jeanne,  on  the  nullification 
of  her  marriage  with  Louis  XII,  received  Berry 
as  her  appanage.  And  at  Bourges  she  spent 
the  last  years  of  her  life,  founding  there  a  college 
of  the  university. 

The  first  Margaret,  who  became  Duchess  of 
Berry  in  15 17,  established  a  fund  for  the  pay- 
ment of  university  professors.     Under  her  sway 

137 


Margaret  of  France 

the  university  became  one  of  the  first  in 
Europe.  She  it  was  who  invited  to  Bourges 
those  great  jurists,  Andrea  Alciati  and  others, 
who  were  to  render  the  university  the  chief 
school  of  jurisprudence.  Alciati  numbered  among 
his  pupils  Calvin  and  Theodore  de  Beze.  To 
the  chair  of  Greek  and  Latin  the  first  Margaret 
appointed  Jacques  Amyot.  And  at  Bourges 
Amyot  spent  the  happiest  years  of  his  life.  There 
he  began  his  famous  translation  of  Plutarch's 
Lives,  and  there  he  completed  his  version 
of  the  romance  of  Heliodorus,  Theagene  et 
Chariclee. 

By  her  niece  and  successor  the  first  Margaret's 
educational  work  at  Bourges  was  ably  continued. 
During  the  last  years  of  her  life  the  Queen  of 
Navarre,  withdrawing  from  all  worldly  concerns, 
had  left  the  management  of  the  university  to  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  of  Bourges,  who  had  latterly 
been  in  the  habit  of  appointing  the  professors. 
That  power  our  Margaret  had  considerable  difficulty 
in  recovering  ;  and  on  this  subject  she  must  needs 
write  explicitly  and  imperiously  to  the  mayor  of 
Bourges,  saying  : 

"  We  will  not  have  law  imposed  upon  us  by 
our  dependents,  not  even  in  things  concerning 
the  peace  and  well-being  of  our  town  and  uni- 
versity." x 

In  those  turbulent  times  it  was  no  easy  task 

1  Raynal,  Histoive  de  Berry,  Vol.  IV,  Pieces  Justificatives. 

138 


Margaret,  Duchess  of  Berry 

to  rule  a  university  in  which  all  the  passions  of 
the  age  were  reflected.  The  men  of  those  days, 
if  they  thought  at  all,  thought  intensely — opinions 
were  strongly  held ;  enmities  were  bitter  ;  dis- 
putes were  violent  and  not  seldom  accompanied 
by  clash  of  arms ;  assassinations  and  arrests  were 
not  infrequent. 

When,  in  1555,  the  Duchess  appointed  Jacques 
de  Cujas  to  succeed  Alciati  in  the  chair  of  juris- 
prudence, his  fellow-professors  refused  to  recog- 
nise him.  Margaret  was  not  one  to  suffer  such 
rebellion.  And  promptly  she  wrote 1  to  the 
Mayor  and  Aldermen  telling  them  to  withhold 
the  doctors'  salaries  until  such  time  as  they 
should  receive  her  nominee. 

Why  the  professors  should  have  objected  to 
Cujas  it  is  difficult  to  understand.  For  he  was 
an  excellent  companion,  kind,  humorous  and 
jocular,  a  bon-viveur  and  a  brilliant  talker.  True 
he  had  his  eccentricities,  as,  for  example,  his 
habit  of  when  studying  arraying  his  books  in  heaps 
on  the  floor,  and  prone,  face  downwards,  wriggling 
serpent- wise  from  pile  to  pile.  But  surely  it  cannot 
have  been  on  this  account  that  his  colleagues 
disliked  him.  Probably  they  were  jealous.  For 
Cujas  already  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  a  great 
teacher,  one  who  could  breathe  new  life  into 
the  dry  bones  of  legal  study.  He  had  more- 
over    always     been     a     great     favourite     with 

1  See  Ibid. 
139 


Margaret  of  France 

his  pupils,  joining  in  their  amusements,  helping 
them  out  of  difficulties,  lending  them  books  and 
even  money. 

Margaret  might  force  the  doctors  to  receive 
Cujas,  she  could  not  make  them  treat  him  kindly. 
And  so  bitter  was  their  hostility  to  the  nominee 
of  the  Duchess  that,  after  two  years,  Cujas  refused 
to  stand  it  any  longer,  and  left  Bourges  for  Paris. 
Then  he  was  appointed  professor  at  the  university 
at  Valence,  and  Margaret  paid  for  his  journey  to 
that  city.  She  never  ceased  to  take  an  interest 
in  her  friend,  although  by  that  time  she  had 
married  Emmanuel  Philibert  and  left  France  for 
Savoy.  At  the  request  of  the  Duchess,  on  the 
death  of  one  of  his  bitterest  enemies  at  Bourges, 
Cujas  returned  to  the  city,  in  1560.  And  thence, 
in  1566,  again  at  Margaret's  invitation  and  at 
her  expense,  he  journeyed  to  Turin,  where  she 
and  her  husband  had  recently  restored  the 
university.  What  pleased  him  most,  he  wrote, 
was  that  by  going  he  showed  his  obedience  to 
Madam  (Margaret).1  Despite  his  devotion  to  the 
Duchess  he  did  not  remain  long  in  her  capital, 
although  he  there  received  high  honours,  being 
admitted  to  the  Duke's  privy  council.  From  Pied- 
mont this  wandering  scholar  soon  strayed  to  other 
Italian  states  and  finally  returned  to  France, 
first  to  Valence  and  then  to  Bourges,  where  he 
died  in  1590,  sixteen  years  after  Margaret.  Visitors 

1  See  Berriat-Saint-Prix,  I'Histoire  de  Cujas  (1821),  p.  517. 

140 


Margaret,  Duchess  of  Berry 

to  Bourges  may  still  see  the  stately  mansion  in 
La  Rue  des  Arenes,  where  Cujas  spent  the  last 
years  of  his  life.  It  is  one  of  the  most  lovely 
dwellings  in  a  city  renowned  for  its  beautiful 
houses. 

The  industrial  concerns  of  Bourges,  which 
were  then  in  a  critical  condition,  must  have 
caused  Margaret  considerable  anxiety.  For  cen- 
turies the  city  had  been  one  of  the  greatest  of 
French  manufacturing  centres.  On  the  rich 
pastures  of  Berry  grazed  a  specially  fine  breed 
of  sheep.  Their  wool  was  sent  into  Bourges, 
there  on  the  banks  of  the  Allier,  the  Cher  and 
the  Auron,  the  three  rivers  which  encircle  the 
city,  to  be  woven  into  cloth  and  to  be  dyed  a 
hue  richer  than  any  that  could  be  produced  even 
in  the  Gobelins  factory  at  Paris.  Like  Florence, 
Bourges  had  for  centuries  been  a  city  of  great 
merchants,  whose  beautiful  dwellings  remain  to- 
day, adorning  the  steep  and  tortuous  streets  of 
the  town.  The  largest  and  the  most  imposing 
of  these  houses  was  built  in  the  fifteenth  century 
by  the  famous  banker,  Jacques  Cceur.  The 
house  is  a  veritable  palace.  Its  motto,  which 
is  inscribed  everywhere  in  words  and  in  alle- 
gorical symbols,  "  a  vaillans  {cceur s)  Hens  im- 
possible "  (to  courageous  hearts  nothing  is  im- 
possible) had  in  Jacques'  case  proved  true. 
For,   the  son   of   a  humble  tanner  in  the  city, 

141 


Margaret  of  France 

he  had  gone  to  the  East,  made  a  great  fortune, 
then  returned  to  France,  where  he  became  a 
banker  and  minister  of  finance  to  the  penurious 
Charles  VII,  lending  him  money  to  pay  the  troops 
which  Jeanne  d'Arc  led  against  the  English. 
Having  incurred  the  royal  disfavour,  Jacques  Cceur 
was  thrown  into  a  prison,  from  which  he  narrowly 
escaped  with  his  life.  Fleeing  from  an  ungrate- 
ful country,  he  entered  the  Pope's  service  and 
died  in  exile  in  the  Island  of  Chios  in  the  year 
1456. 

With  his  vast  wealth  Jacques  Cceur  had  done 
much  to  develop  the  resources  of  his  native 
city.  And  it  was  soon  after  his  death  that  Bourges 
attained  to  the  height  of  her  prosperity.  But 
some  hundred  years  later,  when  our  Margaret 
became  duchess,  the  prosperity  of  the  city  was 
declining. 

The  main  reason  of  this  decline  was  the  snobbish- 
ness of  the  Bourges  merchants,  who  were  be- 
ginning to  disdain  commerce  and  to  aspire  to 
the  Church  or  to  the  King's  service.  Thus  they 
were  gradually  withdrawing  from  trade  their 
capital  and  their  children.  The  woollen  industry 
was  consequently  languishing  and  forsaking 
Bourges  for  the  town  of  Chateauroux  in  Touraine, 
where  the  citizens  were  humbler  minded.  The 
inevitable  result  followed  :  the  wares  of  Bourges 
deteriorated  ;  a  cloak  of  Berry  cloth  was  no  longer 
as  of  yore  handed  down  as  a  family  heirloom, 

142 


Margaret,  Duchess  of  Berry 

nor  did  a  bride's  marriage  contract  require  her 
to  be  attired  therein. 

In  the  industrial  affairs  of  the  city  Margaret 
and  the  corporation  worked  harmoniously.  To- 
gether they  made  every  effort  to  revive  the  city's 
waning  industry,  the  corporation  improving  the 
navigation  of  the  rivers  and  the  Duchess  re- 
nouncing her  right  to  exact  tolls  from  the  traders, 
and  persuading  the  King  to  lend  money  to  the 
town.  At  her  request,  her  nephew  Francis  II, 
on  his  accession  abstained  from  demanding  the 
usual  subsidy  from  the  city.  Margaret  herself, 
when  she  was  journeying  to  Savoy,1  after  her 
marriage,  refrained  from  visiting  Bourges  in 
order  to  save  it  the  expense  of  receiving  her. 
But,  having  shown  her  people  this  consideration, 
she  was  disappointed  when,  as  a  wedding-gift, 
Bourges  granted  her  a  paltry  1500  crowns ; 
and  in  terms  of  some  displeasure  she  wrote  to 
the  corporation  relating  at  length  all  the  services 
she  had  rendered  to  the  city.2 

Henceforth  the  taxes  of  Berry,  which  formed 
an  important  part  of  Margaret's  income,  pro- 
duced less  and  less,  until,  in  1564,  the  Duchess 
was  compelled  to  appeal  to  her  nephew,  King 
Charles  IX,  with  what  success  we  have  not  dis- 
covered,   to    grant    her    compensation    for    this 

1  See  post  p.  216. 

2  See  Raynal,  op.  cit.,  Prices  Justificatives. 

M3 


Margaret  of  France 

After  her  marriage  Margaret  never  visited  her 
province  of  Berry.  But  until  her  death  she  con- 
tinued to  take  a  great  interest  in  the  University 
of  Bourges  and  to  appoint  its  professors.1 

1  For  Margaret's  intervention  on  behalf  of  Bourges  during 
the  wars  of  religion,  see  Chap.  XIV. 


144 


CHAPTER    IX 

COURTSHIP — EMMANUEL  PHILIBERT 

Margaret's  views  as  to  a  Husband — Proposals  to  marry  her  to 
Alessandro  Farnese  and  to  Philip  of  Spain — The  Savoy 
Alliance  first  proposed  in  1526 — Proposal  renewed  in  1538 — 
Did  Margaret  and  Emmanuel  Philibert  then  fall  in  love  ? — 
Alliance  refused  as  not  good  enough  for  Margaret — The 
Fortunes  of  the  House  of  Savoy — Early  life  of  Emmanuel 
Philibert — He  commands  the  Forces  of  Spain — Renewed 
Proposals  for  his  Marriage  with  Margaret,  1550-15 57 — The 
Battle  of  St.  Quentin,  1557. 

"  C'est  un  guerrier  lequel  n'a  son  pareil 
Ni  en  vertu,  ni  combat,  ni  conseil." 

Ronsard. 

KINGS,  princes,  dukes,  "  thousands  and 
thousands  of  great  lords,"  sang  Ron- 
sard  with  poetic  hyperbole,  had  so- 
licited the  hand  of  Madam  Margaret. 
And  yet  on  her  brother's  accession,  the  King's  only 
sister  was  "  still  to  marry."  The  princess  herself 
was  in  no  hurry  to  make  a  selection  from  among 
her  numerous  suitors.  "  If  my  brother  can  find 
me  a  husband,  alliance  with  whom  may  honour 
and  advantage  his  kingdom,"  she  said,  "  then  will 
1  marry  in  order  to  please  the  King."    King  Henry 

did  his  best  to  find  a  bridegroom  for  his  sister.    A 
L  145 


Margaret  of  France 

few  months  after  his  accession,  he  suggested  Mar- 
garet's old  suitor,  Philip  of  Spain,  whose  first  wife 
had  recently  died.  But  once  again  Valois  and 
Habsburg  failed  to  come  to  terms,  this  time  on  the 
questions  of  Navarre  and  of  Piedmont ;  and  once 
again  the  project  of  marrying  Margaret  to  a 
Spanish  husband  was  discarded. 

In  the  autumn  of  1547,  a  novel  type  of  suitor 
presented  himself.  Pope  Paul  III  sent  a  legate  to 
France  to  propose  the  marriage  of  Margaret  with 
his  grandson,  the  Cardinal  Alessandro  Farnese. 
The  Cardinal's  father,  Perluigi  Farnese,  Duke  of 
Parma  and  Paul  Ill's  natural  son,  had  just  been 
murdered  in  his  own  citadel  of  Piacenza  ;  and 
the  Pope,  discerning  the  Emperor's  hand  in  the 
assassination,  sought  to  revenge  himself  by  form- 
ing an  alliance  with  France  and  marrying  his 
grandson  to  the  French  King's  sister.  True, 
Alessandro  was  a  Cardinal,  yet  his  papal  grand- 
father, who  had  bestowed  that  dignity  upon  him 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  could  easily  release  him 
from  his  vows.  But  the  offer  was  never  seriously 
considered  at  the  French  court.  The  Pope  might 
mate  his  natural  children  with  the  illegitimate  off- 
spring of  French  sovereigns — Ottavio  Farnese  was 
to  marry  King  Henry's  natural  daughter,  Diane 
de  France — but  the  so-called  "nephew'  of  the 
Pope  was  no  fit  consort  for  the  sister  of  the  French 
king. 

Something  better  was  in  store  for  Margaret  than 

146 


_,    ,  Giraudon 

Photo. 

CHARLES    III.    HUKE   OF   SAVOY,    FATHER    OF    EMMANUEL    PHILIBERI 
From  a  portrait  attributed  to  J  eau  Clouet  in  the  Pinacoteca  at  Turing 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

alliance  with  the  corrupt  house  of  Farnese.  It 
was  not  a  decadent  cardinal,  but  a  vigorous 
soldier,  a  skilful  captain  and  a  wise  statesman 
whom  Margaret  was  ultimately  to  marry. 

An  alliance  between  the  daughter  of  Francis  I 
and  the  House  of  Savoy  had  several  times  been 
proposed.  When  Margaret  was  three  years  old, 
Charles  III,  Duke  of  Savoy,  offered  his  eldest  son, 
Louis,  for  her  husband.  But  Louis  died  shortly 
afterwards.  Then  from  time  to  time  the  marriage 
of  Margaret  with  Louis'  younger  brother,  Em- 
manuel Philibert,  Prince  of  Piedmont,  was  dis- 
cussed. In  1538,  Margaret  was  at  Nice  when  her 
father  was  trying  to  come  to  terms  with  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor.  Then  Duke  Charles,  on  whose 
territory  the  conference  was  being  held,  revived 
his  favourite  matrimonial  scheme.  Margaret 
chaperoned  by  her  aunt,  the  Queen  of  Navarre, 
was  taken  to  see  her  prospective  father-in-law  in 
his  castle.  She  made  a  very  favourable  impres- 
sion ;  and  the  Duke  became  still  more  eager  for 
the  match.  Poets1  and  romantic  historians  have 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  Margaret  and 
Emmanuel  Philibert  met  on  that  occasion  and 
that  the  princess  immediately  fell  in  love  with 
the  prince  and  cherished  an  ardent  affection  for 
him  ever  afterwards.  There  is  nothing  to  prove 
that  they  did  not  meet  ;   very  probably  they  did. 

1  Probably  Ronsard  had  this  legend  in  mind  when  he  wrote 
the  lines  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  chapter. 

147 


Margaret  of  France 

But  the  Prince  was  a  little  boy  of  ten,  while  the 
Princess  was  fifteen,  and,  according  to  Renais- 
sance ideas,  quite  a  grown-up  young  lady.  More- 
over, when  on  subsequent  occasions,  the  marriage 
project  was  revived,  Margaret  intimated  that  she 
had  no  wish  to  marry  a  landless  duke.  And  so 
this  pretty  fiction  is  contradicted  by  solid  fact. 

In  1538,  Francis  had  rejected  the  suit  of  Em- 
manuel Philibert  in  favour  of  the  Emperor's  pro- 
posal to  marry  Margaret  to  his  son  Philip,  who  was 
naturally  a  much  more  brilliant  match.  For,  in 
1538,  the  prospects  of  the  Prince  of  Piedmont, 
whose  father  had  been  driven  out  of  all  but  a 
very  small  corner  of  his  dominions,  were  about 
as  poor  as  they  could  be.  There  was  therefore 
a  vast  difference  between  the  landless  little  prince, 
pauvre  de  biens  et  riche  de  douleurs,  to  whom  it 
was  proposed  to  unite  Margaret  in  1538,  and  the 
brilliant  general  whom  she  married  twenty  years 
later.  How  so  poor  a  match  became  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  in  Christendom  is  a  striking  story. 
But  to  appreciate  it  one  must  know  something 
of  the  history  of  those  dominions,  over  which 
Margaret  was  one  day  to  reign  as  the  consort  of 
Emmanuel  Philibert. 

As  the  Paris  to  Turin  express  rushes  forth  from 
the  Mont-Cenis  Tunnel,  the  traveller  may  look 
out  of  his  carriage  window  on  to  the  cradle  of 
the   Savoyard  house,   the  oldest   reigning  house 

148 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

in  Europe.  For  over  those  snow-clad  peaks  and 
mountain  valleys,  over  the  banks  of  the  Isere 
and  the  Dora  Rivers,  over  the  land  known  to  the 
Romans  as  Sapaudiae,1  in  the  eleventh  century — 
from  1025  to  105 1 — ruled  Humbert  of  the  White 
Hands,  called  likewise  Humbert  the  Saxon,  the 
earliest  known  ancestor  of  the  Savoyard  princes. 

As  fiefs  from  the  Emperor,  Conrad  II,  Humbert 
held  the  lands  of  Tarentaise,  Chablais,  St.  Maurice 
and  the  Val  d'Aosta.  Thus  while  most  of  his  do- 
minions lay  north  of  the  Alps  his  possessions  in  the 
Val  d'Aosta  gave  him  a  footing  in  Italy.  Humbert 
and  his  successors  were  quick  to  see  the  strength 
of  their  position  as  keepers  of  the  Alpine  passes. 
They  realised  that  their  one  chance  of  success  lay 
in  a  carefully  balanced  political  neutrality.  They 
laid  their  plans  accordingly  and  resolved  to  turn 
to  their  advantage  the  vicissitudes  of  European 
politics.  To  throw  the  weight  of  their  alliance 
now  on  to  this  side  now  on  to  that  became  the 
traditional  policy  of  Savoy  ;  and  thus  this  tiny 
state  came  to  play  an  all-important  part  in  the 
building  of  modern  Europe. 

Steadily,  throughout  eight  centuries,  following 
a  policy  patient,  astute,  grasping  and  ambitious, 
the  princes  of  Savoy  pursued  the  aggrandisement 
of  their  house.  Ever  surrounded  by  more  power- 
ful neighbours,  ever  coping  with  adverse  circum- 

1  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  (ed.  Bury), 
III,  p.  450,  note  11. 

149 


Margaret  of  France 

stances  that  might  have  crashed  many  a  stronger 
state,  they  have  gone  on  from  strength  to  strength. 
Counts  of  Maurienne  in  the  eleventh  century, 
they  became  counts  of  Savoy  in  the  twelfth,  dukes 
of  Savoy  in  the  fifteenth,  kings  of  Sicily  and  then 
kings  of  Sardinia  in  the  eighteenth,  and  finally 
fifty  years  ago  kings  of  all  Italy. 

We  in  this  country  have  experienced  a  striking 
example  of  the  Savoyard  passion  for  self-ag- 
grandisement. In  the  thirteenth  century  we 
suffered  much  at  the  hands  of  Savoy.  In  1236, 
our  King,  Henry  III,  married  Eleanor  of  Provence, 
the  niece  of  Amadeus  IV,  Count  of  Savoy.  Now 
Eleanor  was  blessed  with  no  fewer  than  eight 
uncles,  her  mother's  brothers.  These  Savoyard 
princes  descended  on  our  unhappy  land  like  a 
cloud  of  locusts.  They  greedily  exacted  rich 
treasure,  fat  acres  and  high  office  from  their  all- 
too-feeble  nephew,  King  Henry.  Their  greed 
helped  to  plunge  England  into  civil  war. 

Peter  of  Savoy  with  English  money  built  him- 
self a  magnificent  palace  in  the  Strand.  William 
the  King  made  Bishop  of  Winchester.  But  the 
worst  of  the  Oueen's  uncles,  the  most  brutal  and 
the  most  rapacious,  was  Boniface,  who,  before  he 
had  ever  set  foot  in  England,  was  appointed  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  as  successor  to  the  saintly 
patriot,  Edmund  Rich.  This  was  in  1241  ;  but 
it  was  not  until  1243  that  the  appointment  was 
confirmed  by  the   Pope,   Innocent   IV.     In  the 

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Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

following  year  Boniface  visited  his  province  for 
the  first  time.  And  it  soon  became  evident  that 
he  regarded  it  merely  as  a  mine  from  which  he 
might  dig  vast  treasure.  After  a  few  months, 
having  raised  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  he 
departed  for  the  Continent,  where  he  remained  for 
five  years,  assuming  the  state  of  a  great  feudal 
baron,  commanding  the  Pope's  guard  and  obtain- 
ing from  his  Holiness  a  grant  of  the  firstfruits  of 
the  province  of  Canterbury  for  seven  years. 

When  at  length,  in  1249,  Boniface  did  return 
to  England,  it  was  only  to  institute  a  visitation 
of  his  province  with  the  purpose  of  exacting 
fines  for  all  offences.  The  resistance  of  the 
Londoners  he  quelled  with  his  Provencal  troops. 
When  St.  Paul's  cathedral  was  shut  against  him, 
the  doors  were  forced  open  and  the  rebellious 
prebendaries  excommunicated.  On  the  follow- 
ing day,  in  the  choir  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Priory, 
when  the  sub-prior  refused  to  obey  his  com- 
mands, the  Archbishop  felled  him  with  his  fist 
and  beat  him  unmercifully,  crying  out  :  "  This 
is  the  way  to  deal  with  English  traitors."  A 
tumult  ensued,  during  which  the  Archbishop's 
vestment  being  torn,  he  was  seen  to  be  wearing 
armour  beneath  his  rochet.  Even  his  Provencal 
troops  were  now  powerless  to  protect  the  Primate, 
who  fled  ignominiously,  and,  taking  boat,  escaped 
to  Lambeth.  Thus  there  was  an  end  of  his 
visitation.     With  his  ill-gotten  gains  he  left  the 

153 


Margaret  of  France 

country  and  repaired  to  the  papal  court,  to 
return  three  years  later  when  civil  war  was  on 
the  eve  of  breaking  out.  At  first  Boniface  seemed 
inclined  to  side  with  the  national  party  against 
the  King,  his  nephew.  And,  in  1258,  he  was 
one  of  the  council  of  fifteen  appointed  to  super- 
vise the  government. 

Although  one  of  the  handsomest  and  perhaps 
the  most  rapacious  Archbishop  who  ever  sat  on 
the  seat  of  St.  Augustine,  Boniface  was  by  no 
means  a  man  of  parts.  Unintelligent  and  un- 
educated, force  was  his  only  weapon.  And  he 
was  incapable  of  exercising  any  influence  over 
English  politics.  We  find  him  therefore  gradually 
drifting  on  to  the  side  of  the  King,  and  eventually 
excommunicating  rebellious  English  barons  and 
recruiting  troops  in  France  to  fight  on  the  King's 
side  in  the  Barons'  War.  On  the  triumph  of  the 
royalists  in  1265,  Boniface  was  back  in  England. 
Four  years  later  he  started  with  Prince  Edward 
for  the  Holy  Land.  But  on  his  way  through 
Savoy,  the  Archbishop  was  lured  by  the  charms 
of  his  native  land.  He  went  no  further.  And  in 
his  own  country  he  died  a  year  later  and  was 
interred  in  the  burial-place  of  his  house,  the 
Abbey  of  Hautecombe,  on  Lake  Bourget.  There, 
in  the  heart  of  Savoy,  behind  the  high  altar  in 
the  Abbey,  may  visitors  still  see  the  tomb  of  the 
Savoyard  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

It   was   not   until   the   fifteenth   century   that 

154 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

the  shrewd  policy  of  Savoyard  princes  began 
to  abundantly  bear  fruit.  During  the  long  reign 
of  Amadeus  VIII  the  boundaries  of  Savoy  receded 
and  its  count  received  from  the  Emperor  the  title 
of  Duke.  Then  it  was  that  the  possessions  of 
the  house  on  each  side  of  the  Alps,  which  had 
for  over  a  century  been  held  by  different  branches 
of  the  family,  were  reunited  under  the  rule  of 
one  prince.  And  then  it  was  that  the  lands  on 
the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva  were  conquered. 

After  ruling  for  forty-eight  years,  1391-1439, 
Amadeus  VIII  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son. 
And,  having  entered  the  Church,  he  withdrew, 
in  the  company  of  a  few  chosen  friends,  to  the 
hermitage  of  Ripaille  on  the  Lake  of  Geneva. 
But  here  his  religious  contemplation  was  dis- 
turbed by  messengers  from  the  Council  of  Bale, 
then  sitting,  who  came  to  make  him  Pope,  in 
succession  to  the  deposed  Eugenius  IV.  In 
those  days  of  schism,  the  authority  of  Amadeus, 
or  of  Felix  V,  as  he  called  himself,  was  never 
recognised  by  more  than  a  small  section  of  the 
Church.  He  never  went  to  Rome  j  and  in  1447, 
having  doffed  the  papal  tiara,  he  again  retired 
to  the  solitude  of  Ripaille,  where  he  died  in  145 1. 

During  the  last  part  of  the  fifteenth  century 
Savoy  was  involved  in  contentions  with  the 
Swiss  Confederation,1  which  was  now  becoming 
extremely  powerful  and  encroaching  on  the  princi- 

1  Formed  about  1291. 
155 


Margaret  of  France 

pality  in  the  north.  At  this  time,  owing  to  the 
ill-health  of  Duke  Amadeus  IX,  the  government  of 
Savoy  was  in  the  hands  of  his  wife,  the  Duchess 
Yolande,  the  brilliant  sister  of  Louis  XI  of 
France. 

Yolande,  with  Margaret  in  the  sixteenth  century 
and  Henry  IV's  daughter,  Christine,  in  the  seven- 
teenth, forms  a  trio  of  French  princesses  to  whom 
Savoy  is  greatly  indebted.  During  her  husband's 
prolonged  illness  and  her  son's  minority,  Yolande 
ruled  with  great  ability.  But  she  was  unable  to 
check  the  advance  of  the  Swiss,  who,  in  1476, 
inflicted  a  serious  defeat  on  the  combined  troops 
of  Savoy  and  Burgundy  at  Morat.  The  power  of 
the  cantons  continued  to  increase  throughout  the 
century,  until  in  1500  the  Emperor  Maximilian 
was  forced  to  acknowledge  their  independence. 

The    introduction    of    the    Reformation    into 

Switzerland  ought  to  have  served  as  a  protection 

to    Savoy ;    for    the    Reformation    divided    the 

cantons,  who  grouped  themselves  into  two  leagues, 

one  Catholic,  which  looked  for  aid  to  the  Emperor 

and  to  Savoy,  the  other  Protestant  which  was 

inclined  to  an  alliance  with  France.    Unfortunately 

the   reigning   Duke   Charles   III    of  Savoy,1   the 

father    of    Emmanuel    Philibert,    was    incapable 

of    utilising    this    division    among    his    enemies. 

Charles  III  forsook  the  traditional  policy  of  his 

house  and  threw  all  his  weight  on  to  the  side  of 

1  1504-1553. 
156 


EMMANUEL    PHILIBERT    IN    INFANCY,    DEPICTED    AS    A    CARDINAL. 
From  a  painting  in  the  Pinacoteca  at  Turin 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

the  Emperor.  By  so  doing  he  aroused  the  hostility 
of  his  nephew,  Francis  I.1  The  French  King 
incited  the  Swiss  Protestants  to  rise  against  his 
uncle.  In  1534,  Charles  retaliated  by  besieging 
Geneva.  The  other  Protestant  cantons  came 
to  her  aid.  Charles  was  defeated  and  lost  all 
his  territory  on  the  shores  of  the  lake.  Two 
years  later  a  French  army  conquered  the  greater 
part  of  his  Italian  dominions,  and  a  few  years 
later  still  of  Savoy. 

The  Duke  with  his  wife  and  family  were  driven 
to  take  refuge  at  Nice,  the  only  territory  in 
Savoy  which  remained  to  them,  and  there  it 
was  that  in  1538  Charles  proposed  to  marry 
his  eldest  son,  Emmanuel  Philibert,  to  Margaret.2 

Emmanuel  Philibert  was  born  in  1528,  at 
Chambery.  He  was  the  third  son  and  the  only 
surviving  child  of  a  family  of  nine.  And  in 
infancy  he  himself  was  so  delicate  that  his  life 
was  despaired  of.  For  hours  after  birth  he  was 
only  kept  alive  by  means  of  artificial  respiration. 
He  could  not  walk  until  he  was  three.  A  child 
so  frail  could  be  good  for  nothing  but  the  Church, 
thought  his  parents.  And  so  he  was  early  dedi- 
cated to  a  religious  order  ;  and  the  Pope  Clement 
VII  promised  to  make  him  a  Cardinal.  But  the 
deaths  of  the  elder  brothers  of  Emmanuel  Philibert 

1  Charles  III  was  brother  to  Louise  of  Savoy,  the  mother  of 
Francis  I.     See  genealogical  table,  p.  151. 

2  See  ante  p.  147. 

157 


Margaret  of  France 

rendering  him  heir-apparent  to  his  father's  do- 
minions, changed  his  vocation,  and  by  making 
a  military  open-air  training  necessary  for  the 
delicate  boy  probably  saved  his  life. 

The  mother  of  Emmanuel  Philibert  was  Donna 
Beatrix  of  Portugal,  the  sister  of  the  Emperor's 
wife,  Isabella,  and  the  daughter  of  Emmanuel, 
King  of  Portugal.  The  Duchess  Beatrix  was  an 
extraordinary  person  ;  beautiful,  clever  and  am- 
bitious, but  so  masterful  that  she  was  said  to 
possess  nothing  of  a  woman  save  the  sex.  She 
it  was  who  insisted  on  her  husband  forming 
a  close  alliance  with  his  imperial  brother-in-law. 
The  disastrous  fruits  of  this  counsel  pierced  her 
to  the  heart  and  she  died  of  grief  in  1538. 

Her  son,  Emmanuel  Philibert,  inherited  his 
mother's  determination  as  well  as  her  good  looks, 
her  cleverness  and  her  charm,  but  he  added  to 
those  qualities  a  soundness  of  judgment,  in  which 
Beatrix  had  been  deplorably  lacking.  At  the 
age  of  seventeen  the  Prince  of  Piedmont  left  his 
father's  court  for  the  Emperor's  camp,  where  he 
had  for  companion  in  arms  his  cousin  Philip, 
Prince  of  Spain.1  In  the  imperial  camp,  throwing 
off  the  delicacy  of  his  childhood,  Emmanuel 
Philibert  led  the  hard  life  of  a  common  soldier, 

1  "  Tu  vins  au  port  de  grand  Charles  d'Aiitriche 
Prince  benin,  qui  ne  t'abandonna 
Ains  pour  ami  d  son  fils  te  donna." 

Ronsard,  Le  Bocage  Royal. 
158 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

carrying  his  own  gun  and  ammunition,  and 
acquiring  such  a  power  of  endurance,  that  he 
became  insensible  to  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  ; 
in  pouring  rain  and  in  scorching  sun  he  rode 
with  his  head  uncovered  and  his  helmet  slung 
at  his  side,  a  habit  by  which  he  acquired  the  nick- 
name of  Tete  de  Fer,1  the  Iron-headed.  Du 
Bellay's  lines,  written  on  the  Duke's  marriage 
with  Margaret,  are  literally  true  : 

■"  Sa  virile  jeunesse 
N'a  suivi  la  mollesse 
Des  lascifs  courtisans 

•  •  •  • 

Mais  il  a  sur  la  dure 
Et  sous  la  couverture 
De  pavilions,  appris 
Qu'en  la  poudreuse  plaine 
C'est  avec  la  peine 
Qu'on  emporte  le  pris."  2 

While  everything  that  Emmanuel  Philibert 
did  was  performed  with  the  grace  of  the  complete 
courtier  his  tastes  and  accomplishments  were 
those  of  the  soldier  and  the  athlete.  He  was  an 
adept  at  all  warlike  exercises  ;  a  first-rate  rider, 
swimmer  and  tennis-player.  In  the  arts  and 
sciences  connected  with  war,  chemistry,  ma- 
thematics, metallurgy  and  engineering  he  was 
deeply  interested  j    he    could    forge    a    gun    as 

1  On  account  of  his  strong  will,  he  was  also  known  as  Brise-fer. 

2  CEuvres  (ed.  Marty  Laveaux),  Vol.  II,  p.  434. 

159 


Margaret  of  France 

well  as  fire  one.1  At  the  age  of  forty-two,  despite 
the  numerous  duties  of  a  reigning  prince,  he  found 
time  to  take  a  daily  lesson  in  geometry ;  and 
when  commanding  the  imperial  troops  in  the 
Netherlands  he  kept  a  diary.2  While  science  was 
his  favourite  study,  like  ail  intelligent  rulers, 
he  read  history  and  chiefly  in  the  Spanish  tongue. 
Spanish  was  the  language  he  preferred  and  the 
one  he  used  most  frequently ;  he  also  knew  French, 
Flemish  and  Italian  ;  but  he  had  little  Latin  and 
less  Greek.  Indeed,  in  those  days  of  the  classical 
revival,  men  marvelled  that  any  one  could  be 
so  intelligent  as  the  Duke  of  Savoy  and  not  know 
Aristotle.  In  order  to  maintain  his  proficiency 
in  modern  tongues,  the  Duke  had  about  him 
servants  of  various  nationalities  with  whom  he 
conversed  in  their  own  languages. 

Emmanuel  Philibert  was  a  typical  man  of 
action,  ever  on  the  move,  pacing  to  and  fro  even 
when  transacting  affairs  of  state,  spending  but 
a  few  moments  at  table,  but  a  few  hours  in  bed. 3 

In  personal  appearance  he  was,  like  so  many 

1  et  aynwit  .  .  .  sur  tout  d  forger  des  canons  d'harquebuz. 
II  en  faisoit  de  tres  bons.  J'ay  veu  sa  forge  et  nous  faisoit  monstre 
de  son  exercice.     Brantome,  Gluvres  (ed.  Lalanne),  II,  p.  151. 

2  In  the  Archivio  di  Stato  (Turin),  Storia  delta  Real  Casa, 
No.  7,  1555-1559,  is  a  copy  of  this  journal,  containing  also  recipes 
for  making  gold  and  melting  silver,  elaborate  regulations  of  court 
ceremonial  and  a  prayer  (for  the  last  see  post  p.  161). 

3  The  Venetian  Ambassador,  Francesco  Molino,  in  Baschet, 
Les  Princes  de  V Europe  au  XVIieme  Steele  (1862),  p.  73. 

160 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

famous  soldiers,  a  short  man  with  a  well-knit, 
well-proportioned  frame.  His  countenance  was 
bold  and  dignified  yet  pleasing.  Fair  curly 
hair,  a  short  thick  beard,  grey  eyes,  and  a  ruddy 
complexion  suggested  not  so  much  the  Pied- 
montese  as  the  Saxon  founder  of  his  line.  While 
possessing  a  vivacious  fiery  temperament,  Em- 
manuel Philibert  was  capable  of  great  self-control.1 
Strong  language  he  detested.  An  oath  was 
seldom  heard  to  fall  from  his  lips.  In  religion  he 
was  a  devout  Catholic.  "  The  Catholic  Duke," 
Michelet  calls  him. 

To  his  religious  faith  the  following  prayer  at 
the  end  of  his  diary  bears  witness  : 

"  My  God,  my  Creator  and  my  Redeemer, 
who  died  for  me  and  for  all  those  who  shall 
confess  thee  and  believe  what  thy  Holy  Catholic 
Apostolic  Church  shall  command,  I  beseech  thee 
very  humbly  and  with  the  submission  due  from 
the  creature  to  the  Creator,  from  nothing  to  All, 
and  especially  from  me,  unto  whom  thou  hast 
vouchsafed  so  many  mercies  which  I  never  have 
and  never  shall  deserve,  I  beseech  thee  in  thy 
goodness  to  look  upon  the  wounds  of  Jesus  Christ 
our  Redeemer  and  thy  Son  and  one  person  with 
the  Trinity,  and  to  pardon  me  my  hideous  sins 
and  my  great  ingratitude  to  thee  for  the  great 
and  numberless  benefits  I  have  received  from 
thy  bounty.  And  I  beseech  thee  that  henceforth 
thou   wilt   have   me   in   thy   holy   keeping,    and 

1  Costa  de  Beauregard,  Memoires  historiques  sur  la  Maison 
Roy  ale  de  Savoie  (1816),  Vol.  II,  pp.  574  et  seq. 
M  161 


Margaret  of  France 

grant  me  thy  succour  so  that  I  may  not  offend 
thee  further,  but  rather  that  in  thy  holy  faith 
and  true  justice  I  may  rule  the  people  whom 
thou  hast  committed  to  my  charge,  and  that 
I  may  keep  what  it  hath  pleased  thee  to  give  me,1 
which  is  more  than  I  am  able  to  govern."2 

From  early  youth  Emmanuel  Philibert  set 
his  life  to  the  accomplishment  of  one  great 
purpose  :  the  restoration  of  his  father's  dominions. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  adroitly  introduced  into 
a  letter  congratulating  Henry  II  on  his  accession 
a  request  for  the  restoration  of  Piedmont  to  its 
Duke.  But,  while  losing  no  opportunity  of 
urging  his  demand,  the  Prince  was  well  aware 
that  he  would  never  obtain  his  object  by  mere 
asking.  He  was  quick  to  see  his  father's  error 
in  abandoning  the  traditional  policy  of  their 
house.  He  realised  early  that  if  he  was  ever 
to  be  more  than  the  titular  Duke  of  Savoy  and 
Piedmont  he  must  make  himself  important  both 
to  France  and  to  Spain.  A  landless  prince,  he 
had  nothing  but  his  sword  and  on  that  sword 
he  depended.  Spoliatis  arma  super  sunt,  "  Even 
to  the  dispossessed  arms  remain,"  was  his  motto. 
In  1552,  the  outbreak  of  war  between  France  and 
Spain,  gave  him  the  opportunity  of  proving  it. 

1  This  prayer,  which,  with  the  journal,  is  in  French,  probably 
dates  from  the  time  of  Emmanuel  Philibert's  restoration  to  his 
dominions. 

2  Archivio  di  Stato  (Turin),  doc.  cit. 

162 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

It  was  in  his  ancestral  dominions,  at  the  siege 
of  Bena  in  Piedmont,  in  the  spring  of  1553,  that 
Emmanuel  Philibert  first  engaged  in  that  brilliant 
military  career  which  was  to  render  him  one  of 
the  greatest  captains  of  history,  and  in  his  day 
and  generation  second  to  none,  not  even  to 
Francois,  Duke  of  Guise. 

In  the  following  summer  we  find  the  Prince 
of  Piedmont  in  Flanders,  commanding  in  the 
army  of  the  Seigneur  de  Bugnicourt  and,  in 
the  words  of  Ronsard,  shattering  like  a  thunder- 
bolt "  the  walls  of  Terouenne,  a  fortress  so  valuable 
to  the  King  of  France  that  it  was  described  as 
one  of  the  two  pillows  on  which  he  might  sleep 
securely.'  The  other  pillow  was  probably  Bou- 
logne. 

Throughout  this  war,  by  a  malicious  stroke 
of  fortune,  Emmanuel  Philibert 's  trusty  sword 
was  time  after  time  to  bring  disaster  to  the  dearest 
friends  of  his  future  wife,  Madam  Margaret,  and 
especially  to  the  family  of  the  Constable  "  her  bon 
pere."  The  commander  who  capitulated  at  Terou- 
enne, was  Francois  of  Montmorency,  the  Con- 
stable's eldest  son.  Margaret  grieved  deeply 
over  her  friend's  misfortune  ;  and  when,  at  the 
Truce  of  Vaucelles,  in  1556,  the  prisoner  was 
released,  she  wrote  to  his  father  :  "  the  news 
was   so  good   I   dared  not  believe  it,   but  now 

1  Lors  tu  rompris  les  murs  comme  une  foudre 
De  Terouanne.  .  .  . 

163 


Margaret  of  France 


you  announce  it,  mon  ftere,  I  know  it  to  be  true, 
and  I  am  as  delighted  as  possible.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  he  (Francois  of  Montmorency)  will 
receive  from  the  King  and  from  you  the  warm 
welcome  which  he  desires  and  merits."  1 

The  defender  of  Terouenne  did  indeed  deserve 
well  of  the  King,  for,  daily  expecting  a  relieving 
force  which  never  came,  and  with  the  city  walls 
all  shattered  and  overthrown  by  the  enemy's 
cannon,  he  had  gallantly  held  out  to  the  last 
moment. 

As  the  reward  of  his  exploits  at  Terouenne, 
Emmanuel  Philibert  was  appointed  to  command 
the  imperial  forces  in  Flanders.  And  he  speedily 
justified  his  appointment  by  the  capture  of  the 
much-contested  fortress  of  Hesdin.  Here  again 
Margaret's  friends  suffered.  M.  de  Turenne, 
the  Constable's  son-in-law,  and  the  Comte  de 
Villars,  his  brother-in-law,  were  taken,  while 
Orazio  Farnese,  brother  of  Margaret's  sometime 
suitor  and  husband  of  her  brother's  natural 
daughter,  Diane  de  France,  lost  his  life.2 

Touching   the    "  piteous   news   from   Hesdin," 

1  "  Le  plesir  que  j'ay  repsu  de  ce  que  me  mandes  de  la  de- 
livrance  de  monsieur  de  Maumourancy  ancore  que  je  l'euse  oui 
dire,  je  ne  loisois  croire  pour  le  grand  desir  que  j 'en  avois,  mes  puis, 
mon  pere,  que  me  le  mandes,  j'an  suis  a  sete  heure  bien  asuree  et 
la  plus  esse  qu'il  est  pausible,  je  m'asure  bien  qu'il  ara  du  Roy  et 
de  vous  ansi  bon  recueul  qu'il  desire  et  merite."  Bib.  Nat., 
F.F.,  31 19,  Fo.  20. 

8  See  ante  p.  97. 

164 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

Margaret  wrote  somewhat  tardily  to  Madeleine 
de  Montmorency,  the  Constable's  wife,  asking 
pardon  for  her  delay  in  writing  on  the  ground 
of  her  dislike  to  be  the  bearer  of  evil  tidings. 
But  Margaret  rejoices  with  Madeleine  in  that 
the  Comte  de  Villars'  life  has  been  spared, 
"surely,"  she  adds,  "it  must  have  been  in  answer 
to  your  prayers."  x 

Thus  throughout  this  war,  while  Margaret 
was  suffering  through  the  sorrows  of  her  friends 
and  the  losses  of  her  country,  her  future  husband 
was  winning  for  himself  glory  and  renown. 
Moreover,  with  the  ransoms  of  the  illustrious 
prisoners  taken  at  Hesdin  Emmanuel  Philibert 
was  able  to  line  his  empty  pockets.  "II  se 
rempluma  un  pen  "  ("he  feathered  himself  a 
little  "),  writes  Brant ome,  whose  eldest  brother, 
M.  de  Bourdeille,  was  one  of  the  birds  which  was 
plucked  by  the  Prince  of  Piedmont.  For  this 
Brantome  ever  afterwards  bore  Emmanuel  Phili- 
bert a  grudge ;  and  while  acknowledging  the 
Prince's  great  ability,  he  unjustly  accused  him  of 
having  been  "sly,  fraudulent  and  corrupt."2 

The  Prince  of  Piedmont,  commander-in-chief 
of  the  imperial  army  in  the  Low  Countries,  was 
no  longer  a  suitor  to  be  despised.  Brilliant 
matches    were    proposed    for    him.      And    when 

1  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3119,  Fo.  12. 

2  "  Fin,    trinquant,    et    corrompu."      CEuvres    Completes    (ed 
Lalanne),  V,  p.  72. 

165 


Margaret  of  France 

the  Emperor's  ambassadors  were  sent  to  England 
to  negotiate  Queen  Mary's  marriage  with  the 
Prince  of  Spain  they  were  instructed  to  suggest 
a  second  union  :  that  of  the  Prince  of  Piedmont 
with  the  Princess  Elizabeth. 

But  Emmanuel  Philibert  was  growing  dis- 
satisfied with  the  treatment  he  was  receiving 
from  the  Emperor.  The  Prince  coveted  the 
command  in  Italy,  where  with  his  sword  he 
might  win  back  his  own.  But  the  Emperor 
was  not  desirous  for  his  nephew's  presence  on 
that  battlefield  ;  and  so  he  entrusted  the  Duke 
of  Alva  with  the  Italian  command.  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  considering  himself  slighted,  forthwith 
began  to  solicit  alliance  with  the  French  and 
marriage  with  the  French  King's  sister.  To 
every  other  bride,  who  was  then  offered  to  him, 
to  Elizabeth  of  England,  to  Mary  of  Portugal ' 
and  to  Juana  of  Spain,2  the  Prince  of  Piedmont 
preferred  Madam  Margaret.  But  the  Princess 
herself  was  not  then  willing  ;  not  even  when  her 
old  friend  and  serviteur  particulier,  the  Marechal 
de  Brissac,  urged  the  advantages  of  the  match. 
Emmanuel  Philibert  was  now  titular  Duke  of 
Savoy,  his  father  having  died  in  August,  1553. 
But  he  was  still  an  exiled  duke  and  in  Margaret's 
opinion  therefore  no  fit  consort  for  the  daughter 
and  the  sister  of  French  kings. 

1  Daughter  of  Queen  Eleonore  of  France  by  her  first  husband. 

2  Daughter  of  Charles  V. 

166 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

After  this  rebuff  the  Duke  of  Savoy  reverted 
to  Spain.  He  accepted  an  invitation,  refused 
earlier  in  the  year,  to  visit  King  Philip  and  his 
royal  bride  in  England.  And  during  his  stay  in 
this  country  Emmanuel  Philibert  urged  his  host 
to  use  all  his  influence  with  his  imperial  father 
for  the  restoration  of  Savoy  to  its  lawful  ruler. 
At  this  time  Philip  again  broached  his  favourite 
project  of  a  marriage  between  Princess  Elizabeth 
and  Emmanuel  Philibert.  Queen  Mary  however 
was  too  jealous  of  her  sister  to  wish  for  a  match 
which  would  increase  Elizabeth's  influence  ;  the 
Duke  was  too  devout  a  Catholic  to  desire  marriage 
with  a  Protestant  princess  ;  and  Elizabeth  was 
too  shrewd  to  consent  to  a  union  which  might 
take  her  out  of  England.  Had  she  seen  the  Duke 
her  attitude  towards  him  might  have  been 
different ;  for  Emmanuel  Philibert  was  a  handsome 
prince  and  a  gallant  squire  of  dames,  whose 
good  looks  could  not  have  failed  to  touch  a 
heart  always  susceptible  to  masculine  beauty. 
But  the  pair  never  met,  for,  although  the  Duke 
of  Savoy  stayed  at  Somerset  Place,  Elizabeth's 
house  in  the  Strand,  Mary  took  care  to  keep  her 
sister  down  at  Woodstock.  And,  in  the  autumn  of 
1554,  the  Duke  of  Savoy  returned  to  the  Nether- 
lands an  unplighted  bachelor.  Madam  Margaret 
was  still  the  bride  whom  he  most  desired. 

Emmanuel    Philibert   now   resumed   command 

of  the  imperial  forces.     In  the  autumn  of  1554, 

167 


Margaret  of  France 


before  the  gates  of  Amiens,  he  defeated  his  famous 
cousin  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  and  at  Givet,  in 
the  following  year,  the  Marechal  de  Saint-Andre. 
But  during  these  campaigns  there  was  little 
fighting.  Although  the  Constable  and  King 
Henry  commanded  an  enormous  force,  they 
seemed  afraid  to  come  to  blows  with  so  able  a 
commander. 

The  Duke,  albeit  still  poor  and  dispossessed, 
was  now  a  person  to  be  counted  with.  During 
the  abortive  negotiations  for  peace  in  1555, 
the  Emperor's  representatives  demanded  for  Em- 
manuel Philibert  the  revenues  of  the  Italian 
town  of  Ivrea.  In  the  following  year  the  Truce 
of  Vaucelles  was  signed  ;  and  then  Henry  II 
undertook  to  pay  the  Duke  of  Savoy  an  annual 
pension  of  25,000  francs.  This  was  the  only 
concession  the  imperial  ambassadors  exacted  from 
the  French  King  ;  and  Henry  was  able  to  boast 
that  he  had  not  been  made  to  surrender  one  inch 
of  all  the  conquests  he  had  won. 

The  Truce  of  Vaucelles  was  signed  on  the  5th 
of  February,  1556.  Margaret  was  then  at  Blois  ; 
and  there,  two  days  later,  she  received  a  messenger 
from  the  King  to  tell  her  of  the  settlement.  The 
news  of  peace  always  rejoiced  her  heart  ;  and 
this  truce  was  especially  gratifying  to  her  because 
it  set  her  friends  at  liberty.  Moreover,  while  care- 
fully watching  every  vicissitude  of  the  war  she 
must  have  been  interested  in  the  brilliant  triumphs 

168 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

of  her  suitor  Emmanuel  Philibert,  even  although 
they  were  now  at  her  country's  expense. 

Again  at  Vaucelles,  Savoy  "  feathered  himself 
a  little."  French  writers  complain  of  the  im- 
periousness  and  cupidity  with  which  he  extracted 
ransoms  from  his  prisoners.  But  less  interested 
critics  will  remember  that  as  long  as  France 
deprived  him  of  the  revenues  from  his  dominions, 
the  Duke's  only  income  consisted  in  the  salary 
paid  him  by  the  Emperor.  Even  his  jewels  were 
in  pawn.  And  he  must  have  foreseen  that  when 
the  time  came  for  him  to  return  to  his  principality 
his  first  requirement  would  be  a  well-lined  purse. 

Although  he  had  benefited  by  the  agreement 
of  Vaucelles,  it  was  not  to  the  Duke's  advantage 
that  the  truce  should  run  its  full  five  years'  course. 
And  there  seemed  little  chance  of  its  doing  so. 
The  settlement,  which  was  largely  due  to  the 
diplomacy  of  Margaret's  friend,  Gaspard  de 
Coligny,  Admiral  of  France,  was  generally  un- 
popular.1 As  soon  as  his  son  Francis  was  liberated, 
the  Constable  lost  all  interest  in  the  truce.     The 

1  The  signing  of  the  Truce  of  Vaucelles  was  one  of  the  last 
acts  of  authority  performed  by  Charles  V.  He  was  then  gradually 
withdrawing  from  the  field  of  action.  On  October  25th,  1555, 
he  had  made  over  his  northern  provinces  to  his  son  Philip. 
Milan  and  Naples  had  been  previously  handed  over.  In  January, 
1556,  he  resigned  his  Spanish  kingdoms  and  Sicily,  and  shortly 
afterwards  Franche  Comte  to  Philip.  In  favour  of  his  brother 
Ferdinand  he  renounced  all  imperial  authority,  though  his  formal 
renunciation  of  the  Empire  did  not  take  place  until  1558,  the 
year  of  his  death. 

169 


Margaret  of  France 

Guises  had  disliked  it  from  the  first  ;  so  had  the 
French  allies,  Pope  Paul  IV  and  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey.  By  August,  1556,  King  Henry  was  quite 
ready  for  war.  In  Italy  fighting  had  never  ceased. 
On  the  north-eastern  frontier  of  France  it  had  soon 
been  resumed.  Despite  "  the  good,  sure,  true, 
stable  and  loyal  abstinence  from  war  and  cessation 
from  arms,  concluded,  resolved,  agreed  and  deter- 
mined "  in  the  previous  February,  throughout 
the  summer  of  1556  troops  were  assembling  and 
French  strongholds  were  being  fortified.  Such 
bravado  in  time  of  truce,  said  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
to  the  French  ambassador  at  Brussels,  he  would 
never  endure  even  if  the  King  his  Master  were 
prepared  to  tolerate  it. 

The  truce  was  formally  broken  and  war  was 
declared  on  the  31st  of  January,  1557. 

In  the  following  July  Emmanuel  Philibert  took 
command  of  the  Spanish  army,  consisting  of 
35,000  foot  and  12,000  horse,  which  was  to  be  re- 
inforced by  a  body  of  10,000  English  ;  for  Queen 
Mary  of  England,  in  support  of  her  Spanish  hus- 
band, had  likewise  declared  war  on  France  in  the 
June  of  this  year. 

Soon  after  the  declaration  of  war  it  became 
obvious  that  the  Duke  of  Savoy  intended  to 
attack  the  fortress  of  Saint-Quentin,  the  defences 
of  which  were  notoriously  imperfect.  And  Coligny, 
who  was  then  governor  of  Picardy,  had  only  just 
time  to  enter  the  town  by  night  when,  on  the 

170 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

3rd  of  August,  its  investment  by  the  Spanish 
army  was  begun. 

We  may  well  imagine  with  what  intense 
anxiety  Margaret  must  have  awaited  news  from 
Saint-Quentin  where  her  future  husband  was 
once  again  face  to  face  with  one  of  her  dearest 
friends,  Gaspard  de  Coligny,  the  defender  of  the 
town. 

The  story  of  the  siege  and  of  the  Battle  of 
Saint-Quentin  is  too  well  known  to  need  repeating 
here.  The  Constable's  intervention  on  behalf  of 
Coligny,  his  nephew,  resulted  in  a  crushing  defeat. 
Margaret's  "  good  father,"  fighting  like  a  lion, 
was  seriously  wounded  in  the  side  and  compelled 
to  surrender  to  Margaret's  future  husband.  With 
the  Constable  were  captured  or  slain  the  flower 
of  the  French  nobility.  Seventeen  days  later, 
after  a  gallant  resistance,  Coligny  was  forced  to 
capitulate,  and  he  too  became  a  prisoner  in  the 
enemy's  hands. 

Paris  was  in  danger.  Everyone  expected  the 
victorious  army  to  march  upon  the  French 
capital.  But,  says  Monluc,1  "  God  miraculously 
deprived  the  King  of  Spain  and  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  of  the  wisdom  to  follow  up  their  victory."2 
Instead  of  making  for  Paris,  they  contented  them- 
selves with  capturing  a  few  Picard  towns. 

1  Memoires  et  Commentaires  (Michaud,  1st  series),  Vol.  VII,  p.  183. 

2  Savoy  wished  to  march  on  Paris.  It  was  Philip's  caution 
that  prevented  him  from  doing  so. 

171 


Margaret  of   France 

The  King  had  been  at  Compiegne  during  the 
battle.  He  now  repaired  hastily  to  Paris,  where 
Queen  Catherine,  assisted  by  the  Cardinal  of 
Lorraine,  was  energetically  doing  her  best  to 
raise  money  and  troops.  For  some  weeks  Henry 
and  his  court  remained  in  the  city.  There,  in 
September,  they  were  attacked  by  a  curious 
epidemic,  which  had  not  been  known  for  fifty 
years.  It  was  a  feverish  catarrhal  disposition, 
probably  a  kind  of  influenza,  and  was  called  the 
whooping-cough  or  chin-cough  disease.  Margaret, 
the  King  and  Queen,  their  daughters  and  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine  all  succumbed  to  it.  And  the 
air  of  Paris  was  so  infected  that,  as  Henry  told  the 
Venetian  ambassador,  the  court  as  soon  as  the 
sufferers  had  recovered,  were  glad  to  escape  to 
Saint-Germain. 

Meanwhile  Margaret  was  feeling  very  anxious 
about  her  "  good  father,"  the  Constable.  At  first 
his  friends  did  not  even  know  the  place  of  his 
imprisonment  ;  and  some  thought  he  was  dead, 
for  his  wound  was  known  to  have  been  very 
serious.  The  Duke  of  Savoy  proved  a  hard 
gaoler.  He  refused  to  allow  the  great  surgeon, 
Ambroise  Pare,  to  visit  his  prisoner,  although  he 
permitted  other  French  doctors,  who  were  less 
famous,  to  attend  him.  The  numerous  letters  of 
condolence,  which,  after  a  time,  the  Constable 
was  permitted  to  receive,  must  have  been  a  great 
consolation  to  him.    Among  these  letters  was  one 

172 


Courtship — Emmanuel  Philibert 

from  his  captor,  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  one  from 
his  good  daughter  and  cousin  Margaret. 

A  romantic  imagination  might  picture  as  an 
augury  of  the  union  to  come,  those  two  missives, 
penned  by  the  hands  of  the  future  husband  and 
wife,  lying  side  by  side  on  the  table  of  the  Con- 
stable's Flemish  prison. 

In  September,  1557,  Montmorency  was  per- 
mitted to  have  his  own  servants.  And  a  year 
later  he  was  allowed  to  depart  on  parole  and  to 
pay  a  few  days'  visit  to  King  Henry,  who  was  at 
Beauvais.  Margaret  was  not  there,  but  Mont- 
morency wrote  to  her  of  his  "joy  and  satisfaction 
at  seeing  the  King."  And  Margaret  replied : 
"  I  entreat  you  to  believe  that  could  I  have  had 
my  will  you  should  not  have  waited  so  long. 
I  have  hopes  that  God  will  grant  us  the  favour 
that  by  means  of  a  good  peace  we  may  see  you 
again  soon,  which  will  never  be  as  soon  as  I 
desire."1 

Only  a  few  days  after  the  Constable  had  left, 
Margaret  rejoined  the  King  and  Queen  at  Beau- 
vais. 

1  .  .  .  je  vous  prie  de  croire  que  si  sent  este  selon  mon  desir  que 
nusies  tant  atandu  fay  esperance  que  Dieu  nous  fera  cete  grdce  par 
le  moien  d'une  bonne  pais  de  vous  ravoir  du  tout  qui  ne  sera  james 
si  tost  que  je  le  le  [sic]  souhete.    Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3139,  Fo.  59. 


173 


CHAPTER  X 

BETROTHAL  AND  THE  TREATY  OF 
CATEAU-CAMBRESIS 

St.  Quentin  and  the  fortunes  of  Emmanuel  Philibert — Negotia- 
tions in  the  Abbey  of  Cercamp — The  Duke  of  Savoy  proposes 
for  Margaret's  niece,  Claude — But  accepts  Margaret,  who  is 
offered  to  him  by  the  Constable — Negotiations  at  Cateau- 
Cambresis — The  Constable's  joy  at  obtaining  a  husband  for 
Margaret — Margaret's  assumption  of  the  role  of  diplomatist — 
Unpopularity  of  the  match  in  France  and  in  Piedmont. 

"  Or  ceste  vierge  en  vertu  consommee, 

D'un  coeur  tres  haut  desdaignait  d'estre  aimee 

En  attendant  que  Fortune  propice 

Eust  ramenee  toy,  son  espouse,  Ulysse  ; 

Seule  en  sa  chambre  au  logis  l'attendoit, 

Et  des  amans,  chaste,  se  defendoit." 

Ronsard. 

ST.  QUENTIN  was  the  most  decisive  battle 
of  the  century.     It  changed  the  course  of 
European    history.      It    settled    the    duel 
between   Hapsburg   and  Valois   in  favour 
of  the  Austrian  house.     It  transferred  the  he- 
gemony of  Europe  from  France  to  Spain. 

In  the  affairs  of  Emmanuel  Philibert,  St.  Quen- 
tin marked  the  turning  of  the  tide.     It  restored 

174 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

him  to  his  own.  It  gave  him  for  his  bride  that 
"  most  accomplished  and  instructed  woman  of 
the  world,"  for  whose  hand  he  had  so  often  sued  in 
vain.  Henceforth  the  Duke  of  Savoy  was  arbiter 
between  the  houses  of  Hapsburg  and  Valois.  Now 
he  might  truly  say,  "  The  side  on  to  which  I  throw 
my  weight  will  be  victorious." 

From  the  fatal  day  of  St.  Lawrence — for  the 
Battle  of  St.  Quentin  was  fought  on  the  ioth  of 
August,  which  was  the  Feast  of  St.  Lawrence — 
Henry  was  set  upon  peace.  The  brilliant  exploit 
of  the  taking  of  Calais  from  the  English  by  the 
Duke  of  Guise  failed  to  reconcile  Henry  to  the 
war.  It  was  enough  that  the  Constable  was  a 
prisoner  :  without  him  the  King  was  at  sea ; 
his  successors  in  the  council  chamber,  the  Duke 
of  Guise  and  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  Henry 
could  not  trust ;  Montmorency  must  be  liberated 
at  any  cost.  "I  shall  die  content,"  Henry  wrote 
to  the  Constable,  "  when  I  see  a  good  peace  and 
the  man,  whom  more  than  all  others,  I  love  and 
esteem  ;  and  so  fear  not  to  fix  your  ransom  at  any 
sum  that  may  be  asked."  Again  the  King  wrote  : 
"  Do  all  you  can  to  bring  about  peace.  ...  I 
can  know  no  greater  joy  than  to  have  a  good 
peace  and  to  see  you  at  liberty." 

In  mid-October,  1558,  formal  negotiations  for 
peace  opened  at  the  Abbey  of  Cercamp  in  Picardy. 
The  president  of  the  conference  was  the  dowager 
duchess    of    Lorraine,    Christine,    niece    of    the 

175 


Margaret  of  France 

Emperor  Charles  V.  The  French  representatives 
were  Charles,  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  the  Constable, 
the  Marechal  Saint  Andre,  Jean  de  Morvilliers, 
Bishop  of  Orleans,  and  Claude  de  1'Aubespine, 
Secretaire  des  Finances.  Spain  was  represented 
by  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  Don 
Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva,  Antoine  Perrenot,  Bishop 
of  Arras  later  Cardinal  de  Granvelle,  and  Ulrich 
Viglius  de  Zuichem. 

The  English  ambassadors  were  Lord  Arundel, 
Thirlby,  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  Dr.  Nicholas  Wotton.1 
Savoy  sent  the  Count  of  Stropiano  and  the  Presi- 
dent of  Asti.  The  dispossessed  King  of  Navarre 
was  also  represented. 

In  the  first  preliminaries  of  peace  the  Spaniards 
had  been  given  to  understand  that  the  French  did 
not  expect  such  good  terms  as  they  had  procured 
at  the  Truce  of  Vaucelles.  They  were  prepared 
to  resign  some  of  their  conquests.  But  from  the 
beginning  the  French  interest  was  compromised 
by  the  rivalry  between  their  two  commissioners, 
the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  and  the  Constable. 
The  latter  endeavoured  to  keep  Piedmont  for 
France  ;  but  the  Cardinal  privily  informed  the 
Spanish  ambassadors  that  the  French  King  might 
be  induced  to  give  way  on  that  point.  The  fact 
that  the  French  representatives  were  thus  work- 
ing at  cross  purposes,  coupled  with  the  King's 
desire  for  the  Constable's  release  at  any  cost, 

1  Appendix  C,  p.  335. 
176 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

went  far  to  account  for  the  losses  inflicted  on 
France  by  the  treaty  now  in  course  of  media- 
tion. 

The  first  session  of  the  conference  occupied 
the  last  fortnight  of  October.  During  that  time 
it  was  settled  that  to  Emmanuel  Philibert  Pied- 
mont and  Savoy  with  the  exception  of  certain 
towns  should  be  restored,  and  to  the  King  of 
Spain  all  French  conquests  made  in  the  north 
since  1552.  In  the  sixteenth  century  no  treaty 
was  complete  unless  ratified  by  marriages.  And 
one  of  the  first  duties  of  the  Assembly  at  Cercamp 
was  to  arrange  a  double  marriage  :  Elizabeth, 
King  Henry's  eldest  daughter,  was  to  espouse 
Don  Carlos,  Philip  II's  son,  while  Emmanuel 
Philibert  asked  for  the  hand,  not  of  Margaret  this 
time,  but  of  her  niece,  Henry's  second  daughter, 
Claude.  According  to  the  Venetian  ambassador 
at  the  French  court,  the  Duke  proposed  for 
Claude  because  he  had  "  no  fancy  "  for  Margaret. 
And  Savoy  may  well  have  owed  Margaret  a 
grudge  for  her  recent  rejection  of  his  suit. 

Indeed  so  completely  had  Emmanuel  Phili- 
bert despaired  of  ever  winning  Margaret  that 
some  time  before  the  opening  of  the  Cercamp 
negotiations  he  had  been  betrothed  to  Madeleine 
of  Austria,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand 
and  the  first  cousin  of  Philip  II.  Out  of  this 
incident  an  Italian  dramatist  of  the  present 
day,  Signor  Raffaelle  Fiore,  has  woven  a  romance 

N  177 


Margaret  of  France 

which  is  related  in  his  play  Emanuele  Filiberto.1 
And  here  the  dramatist  represents  his  hero 
as  being  passionately  in  love  with  Madeleine, 
whom  his  marriage  of  convenience  with  Margaret 
compels  him  to  denounce.  The  Italian  dramatist 
is  not  the  only  writer  who  has  imagined  that 
while  his  political  interests  led  him  to  desire 
Margaret's  hand,  Emmanuel  Philibert's  affections 
had  been  bestowed  elsewhere.  Years  ago  Alex- 
andre Dumas  in  his  thrilling  novel,  Le  Page  du  Due 
de  Savoie,  told  of  the  Duke's  passion  for  a  mys- 
terious person  called  Leone,  who,  disguised  as 
a  page,  accompanied  him  on  his  campaigns, 
until  her  lord's  marriage  with  Margaret. 

In  such  stories  we  discern  the  influence  of 
Brantome,  whose  spicy  gossip  until  quite  recent 
years  was  credited  as  history.  And  Brantome, 
as  we  have  said,  makes  Margaret  out  to  have 
been  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  a  well-advanced 
spinster  of  forty-six,  and  moreover  a  spinster 
with  a  past.  According  to  Brantome  therefore 
Emmanuel  Philibert  was  making  a  serious  sacrifice 
when  he  allied  himself  with  this  elderly  blue- 
stocking of  somewhat  doubtful  reputation.  But 
we  now  know  how  very  little  Brantome  is  to  be 
trusted.  And  such  tales  as  those  of  Dumas 
are  probably  as  well  founded  as  the  companion 
romance  that  Margaret  had  been  in  love  with 
Emmanuel  Philibert  since  he  was  a  boy  of  ten 

1  Margaret  too  had  another  suitor,  her  cousin  Alfonso  d'  Este 
of  Ferrara.  I7g 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

and  she  a  girl  of  fifteen.  Nevertheless  we  dare 
not  venture  to  deny  the  probability  that  before 
his  marriage  with  Margaret  the  Duke's  heart 
had  been  engaged  and  many  times  over.  For, 
as  we  have  said,  he  was  a  famous  squire  of  dames. 
And,  as  for  his  betrothal  to  Madeleine  of  Austria, 
whether  or  no  that  engagement  was  an  affair 
of  the  heart,  it  rests  on  the  authority  of  no  less 
a  person  than  Samuel  Guichenon,  author  of 
L'Histoire  de  la  Roy  ale  Maison  de  Savoie.1 

These  love-stories  however  have  led  us  to 
anticipate.  And  we  must  now  return  to  the 
Cercamp  negotiations  and  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy's 
proposal  to  marry  Princess  Claude. 

It  was  soon  pointed  out  to  him  that  Claude 
was  promised  to  another.  As  early  as  1552, 
she  had  been  betrothed  to  the  young  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  son  of  Duchess  Christine,  the  President 
of  the  Cercamp  Conference  ;  and  preparations 
were  already  being  made  for  the  marriage,  which 
took  place  in  January,  1559.  But  France  could 
not  afford  to  lose  Savoy's  alliance,  especially 
now  that  the  Duke  was  to  be  restored  to  his 
dominions.  Consequently  the  oft-discussed  pro- 
ject of  his  union  with  Margaret  was  revived  ; 
and  this  time  the  proposal  came  from  France. 

Emmanuel  Philibert  on  the  eve  of  restoration 
to  his  ducal  throne  was  now  a  husband  after 
Margaret's  heart.     Union  with  him  would  fulfil 

1  Vol.  I,  p.  676. 

179 


Margaret  of  France 

the  condition  for  her  marriage  which  she  had 
always  laid  down :  it  would  both  advantage 
and  honour  her  brother's  kingdom.  And  so 
the  Constable,  as  eager  as  ever  to  mate  his  "  good 
daughter  and  cousin,"  was  doubtless  furnished 
with  the  lady's  consent  when  he  offered  her  to 
the  Duke  of  Savoy.  Emmanuel  Philibert,  despite 
his  alleged  fancy  for  Claude,  appears  to  have  been 
no  less  eager  to  accept  the  offer. 

About  the  12th  of  October  the  Duke  received 
his  lady's  picture,  which,  as  he  wrote  to  his 
cousin,  Nemours,  intensified  the  desire  already 
long  cherished  in  his  heart.  And  he  hoped 
that  if  God  granted  him  the  happiness  to  marry 
Madam,  he  (the  Duke)  would  so  acquit  himself 
as  to  please  all  three  (apparently  God,  Henry  and 
Margaret).1 

Meanwhile  the  King's  sister  seems  not  to 
have  been  altogether  pleased  that  her  suitor 
should  have  so  readily  transferred  his  offer 
of  marriage  to  her  niece.  At  least  so  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine  gave  Emmanuel  Philibert  to  under- 
stand. But  the  Cardinal  is  well  known  to  have 
been  averse  to  the  match.  And  we  have  no 
evidence  that  Margaret  ever  directly  expressed 
her  displeasure  to  the  Duke.  He  however  deemed 
it  wise  to  write  a  letter  explaining  his  apparent 
inconstancy  ;  and  probably  he  hoped  that  the 
letter   would   be   brought   to   Margaret's  notice. 

1  L'Aubespine,  Negotiations,  etc.  (1841),  pp.  195-6. 

180 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

It  is  dated  the  ioth  of  November,  1558,  and 
addressed  to  Monsieur  du  Bochet,  who,  we  may 
presume,  was  a  friend  of  the  Duke  at  the  French 
court. 

"  Friend  and  Brother,"  he  writes,  "  only  this 
morning  did  we  receive  the  letter  which  you 
wrote  on  the  seventh  of  this  month.  And  we 
are  at  once  amazed  and  annoyed  that  it  should 
have  travelled  so  slowly  ;  for  we  fear  that  our 
delay  in  replying  may  be  attributed  to  indiffer- 
ence. .  .  .  We  are  grieved  to  hear  from  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine  that  Madam  Margaret  appears  to 
think  us  ill-disposed  towards  the  marriage  pro- 
posed between  her  and  us  because  of  the  offers 
which  were  made  to  the  King's  daughter,  her 
niece.  .  .  .  But  in  truth  the  request  addressed  to 
the  one  conveyed  no  scorn  of  the  other.  For, 
during  many  years  and  on  repeated  occasions, 
you  among  others  have  heard  me  praise  and 
extol  Madam  Margaret  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  the  graceful  charms  of  her  person  and  of 
the  singular  virtues  of  her  heart.  On  her  gifts 
we  set  such  store  that  we  shall  esteem  ourselves 
happy  if  God  grants  us  such  a  bride.  And,  in  all 
seriousness,  we  believe  that  there  doth  indeed 
await  us  the  fate  with  which  you  have  so  often 
threatened  us,  and  that  we  shall  submit  to  be 
governed  by  a  woman  to  whom  we  shall  be 
ever  striving  to  give  content."  x 

This  letter,  with  its  lame  explanation  and  its 
concluding   note    of   ironical   resignation   to    the 

1   See  Saint  Genis,  Hist,  de  Sav.,  Ill,  Docs.  No.  38. 

181 


Margaret  of  France 


inevitable,  shows  that  the  Iron-headed  Duke 
laboured  under  no  illusion  as  to  the  character 
of  his  bride.  Margaret  was  known  throughout 
Europe  to  be  a  strong-minded  woman.  And 
as  such,  once  having  resolved  on  this  marriage, 
she  was  not  to  be  deterred  from  it  by  any  jealousy 
of  her  niece,  if  indeed  such  a  sentiment  ever 
existed  outside  the  fertile  brain  of  the  Cardinal. 

Some  weeks  before  the  Duke's  letter  to  Mon- 
sieur du  Bochet,  on  the  15th  of  October,  Margaret 
had  written  to  the  Marechal  de  Brissac,  who 
had  more  than  once  suggested  a  matrimonial 
alliance  between  her  and  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
vaguely  hinting  at  her  approaching  marriage. 

"  There  is  much  talk  of  peace,"  she  wrote. 
"  You  wish  me  to  be  included  therein.  If  you 
had  your  wish  I  should  be  pleased,  and  if  I  had 
mine  you  would  be  happy,  for  there  is  no  woman 
in  the  world  who  more  earnestly  desireth  your 
advancement/'  1 

It  is  evident  from  this  sentence,  "  if  you  had 
your  wish  I  should  be  pleased,"  that  Margaret, 
despite  the  Duke's  proposal  to  Claude,  still 
desired  the  marriage. 

The  ambassadors  at  Cercamp  found  marriages 
among  the  easiest  points  to  settle.  Much  more 
difficult  to  arrange  were  the  disputes  as  to  who 

1  Bib.  Nat.,  ms.  fr.  No.  20451,  Fo.  145-74.  Collection 
Gaignieres. 

182 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

should  possess  Calais  and  how  many  Piedmontese 
towns  should  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the  French. 
On  the  30th  of  October,  in  order  that  the  com- 
missioners might  confer  with  their  respective 
sovereigns  touching  these  matters,  the  conference 
was  suspended  for  a  week. 

The  second  session,  which  lasted  from  the  7th 
of  November  until  the  end  of  the  month,  accom- 
plished little  ;  and  the  death  of  Mary  of  England, 
on  the  17th  of  November,  introduced  a  further 
complication.  At  the  end  of  the  month  a  second 
adjournment  took  place  ;  and  it  was  understood 
that  before  the  ambassadors  reassembled  the 
Constable  and  Saint-Andre,  who  had  both  been 
taken  prisoners  at  Saint  Quentin,  would  pay 
their  ransoms  and  obtain  their  liberty.  The 
Constable  however  had  to  do  a  great  deal  of 
hard  bargaining  with  his  captor,  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  before  he  could  induce  him  to  accept 
a  reasonable  sum.  Finally  200,000  crowns  was 
agreed  upon ;  and  Montmorency,  having  paid 
the  first  instalment,  returned  to  France  in  De- 
cember. 

When  the  Conference  reassembled  in  February, 
1559,  ^  was  m  a  new  meeting-place.  The  old 
abbey  of  Cercamp  was  too  cold  and  too  draughty 
for  winter  habitation  ;  so  the  ambassadors  met 
at  Cateau-Cambresis,  in  a  spacious  palace,  be- 
longing to  the  Bishop  of  Cambrai.  But  at  first 
the  change  seemed  no  improvement.    The  Bishop's 

183 


Margaret  of  France 

palace  was  even  more  uncomfortable  than  the 
abbey,  the  windows  were  unglazed  and  the 
furniture  insufficient.  Paper  panes  in  frames  of 
lattice  had  to  be  hastily  inserted  and  more 
furniture  brought.  Then,  amid  much  complaining, 
the  negotiations  proceeded. 

The  Constable  was  now  a  free  man  but  Saint- 
Andre  still  remained  a  prisoner  of  war.  The 
chief  points  to  be  settled  were,  as  we  have  said, 
Calais  and  the  Piedmontese  fortresses.  Mary's 
death  had  resulted  in  the  separation  of  English 
and  French  interests ;  England,  now  governed 
by  Queen  Elizabeth,  could  no  longer  depend 
upon  Philip  to  support  her  demand  for  Calais  ; 
France  endeavoured  to  detach  the  King  of 
Spain  still  further  from  England  by  proposing 
that  he  and  not  Don  Carlos  should  marry  King 
Henry's  daughter,  Madam  Elizabeth.  Through 
February  the  negotiations  dragged  on  and  nothing 
was  done.  The  Queen  of  England  hesitated  to 
leave  Calais  in  the  hands  of  the  French,  while 
Montmorency  gave  the  English  ambassadors  to 
understand  that  for  King  Henry  to  surrender 
Calais  would  be  like  yielding  his  sword  to  the 
enemy.  So  strained  were  the  relations  that  at 
one  point  the  French  ambassadors  announced 
their  departure ;  their  coaches  awaited  them 
at  the  gate,  and  Madame  la  Presidente  had  her- 
self to  descend  from  her  apartment,  in  which 
the  negotiations  were  being  conducted,  in  order 

184 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

to  persuade  Montmorency  and  his  colleagues  to 
return.  At  the  end  of  February  the  conference 
adjourned  until  the  Queen  of  England  should 
have  replied  to  the  French  proposals.  In  this 
interval  the  Constable  visited  Henry  and  his 
court  at  Villers-Cotterets.  Margaret  too  was 
there.  And  doubtless  the  Constable  took  the 
opportunity  of  conferring  with  her  touching 
the  progress  of  those  negotiations  on  which  her 
destiny  depended. 

When,  on  the  2nd  of  March,  the  ambassadors 
reassembled,  they  received  Elizabeth's  consent 
to  Calais  remaining  in  French  hands  for  eight 
years  ;  and  a  week  later  a  treaty  was  signed 
between  England  on  the  one  hand  and  France 
and  Scotland  on  the  other. 

There  still  remained  the  question  of  the  Pied- 
montese  fortresses — how  many  should  remain 
in  the  hands  of  France,  until  the  conflicting 
claims  of  France  and  Savoy  to  certain  territories 
in  the  principality  should  have  been  decided. 
At  first  France  demanded  twelve,  then  six,  then 
four.  But  if  France  was  to  retain  any  towns 
whatever  then  Spain  too  insisted  upon  garrison- 
ing certain  fortresses.  Here  was  another  difficulty. 
This  too  was  overcome  by  the  tact  of  Madame  la 
Presidente.  At  her  suggestion  the  ambassadors 
of  France  and  Spain  went  off  to  consult  their 
respective  sovereigns  ;  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine 
to  Henry  and   Don  Ruy  Gomez  to  Philip.     In 

185 


Margaret  of  France 

a  few  days  the  ambassadors  returned  with  powers 
to  arrange  a  compromise.  France  was  to  occupy 
five  towns  in  Piedmont  and  Spain  two.  The 
last  obstacle  to  a  general  settlement  was  removed. 
And  Montmorency  could  write  to  Coligny  : 
"  thanks  be  to  God  peace  is  made  and  Madam, 
the  King's  sister,  married."  It  sounded  like  a 
Nunc  Dimittis.  And  indeed  the  Constable  had 
striven  long  and  strenuously  to  get  Margaret 
a  husband.  That  her  marriage  was  his  doing 
she  herself  recognised,  for,  some  years  later, 
in  an  undated  letter,1  written  from  Rivoli  in 
Piedmont,  referring  to  the  happiness  of  her 
married  life,  she  bids  the  Constable  never  regret 
a  union  of  which  he  had  been  the  cause. 

In  the  middle  of  March  and  before  the  signing 
of  the  treaty  Margaret  despatched  to  Brussels 
her  Chancellor,  Michel  de  1' Hospital,  in  order 
that  he  might  prepare  the  marriage  contract. 
No  sooner  was  Margaret's  marriage  arranged  than 
she  adopted  between  her  brother  and  her  be- 
trothed that  role  of  diplomatist  which  she  was 
to  play  with  marked  success  for  the  rest  of  her 
life.  She  entreated  Henry  forthwith  to  hand 
over  to  Savoy  those  Piedmontese  fortresses  which 
the  treaty  permitted  France  to  retain. 

With  incontrovertible  logic,  Margaret  contended 
that  if  the  King  could  trust  Savoy  so  far  as  to 
grant  him  his  sister  in  marriage,  he  might  surely 

1  Fonds  francais,  3260,  Fo.  2. 
186 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

trust  him  to  keep  his  word  and  carry  out  the 
terms  of  the  treaty,  wherefore  it  was  unnecessary 
to  take  any  pledge  for  its  execution.  Henry, 
however,  with  a  man's  contempt  for  a  woman's 
argument,  put  his  sister  off,  telling  her  not  to 
worry  and  vaguely  hinting  that  if  the  Duke 
turned  out  a  good  husband  the  fortresses  might 
be  restored  to  him  before  the  three  years,  which 
was  the  time  stipulated. 

The  peace  with  Spain  and  Savoy  was  signed 
on  the  3rd  of  April.  It  restored  to  the  Duke 
his  territories  of  Bresse,  Bugey,  Valromey,  Savoy 
and  Piedmont,  with  the  exception  of  five  towns — 
Turin,  Chieri,  Pinerolo,  Chivasso  and  Asti  in 
the  territory  of  Villanuova  retained  by  France, 
and  two,  the  other  Asti  and  Vercelli,  retained  by 
Spain.  But,  while  they  could  entrench  their 
garrisons  in  these  towns,  France  and  Spain 
could  control  neither  their  revenues,  their  govern- 
ments nor  their  courts  of  justice.  This  was  an 
unsatisfactory  arrangement  for  all  parties,  and 
one  which,  as  we  shall  see,  was  to  lead  to  constant 
bickering. 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  Treaty  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis  was  general  throughout  France.  Bran- 
tome  lamented  that  the  conquests  of  thirty 
years  were  surrendered  with  one  stroke  of  the 
pen  and  in  one  hour.  Monluc  ascribed  to  this 
disastrous  peace  the  civil  wars  which  succeeded 
it.     Brissac   beheld   in   the   treaty   nothing   but 

187 


Margaret  of  France 

loss  and  ruin  for  France,  once  triumphant  over 
all  European  nations.  Some  said  that  the  King 
had  made  peace  merely  to  liberate  the  Constable 
and  Saint- Andre,  others  that  the  Italian  con- 
quests were  being  surrendered  in  order  to  pro- 
vide the  King's  sister  with  a  husband.  The 
soldiers  in  Piedmont  declared  that  it  was  all 
very  well  for  Madam  Margaret  to  play  the  Minerva, 
the  goddess  of  chastity,  and  then  to  come  to 
Piedmont  to  change  her  name  at  their  expense. 
Margaret's  marriage  however  was  not  the  cause, 
but  merely  the  ratification  of  the  surrender  of 
Savoy  and  Piedmont.1  Ultimately  the  treaty 
of  Cateau-Cambresis  benefited  France.  It  finally 
cured  French  kings  of  that  perpetual  hankering 
after  Italian  dominions,  which  ever  since  the 
end  of  the  last  century  had  involved  France  in 
costly  warfare.  Henceforth  French  desires  for 
aggrandisement  were  to  be  fixed  on  the  north 
and  east  rather  than  on  the  south,  on  the 
Rhine  rather  than  on  the  Alps.  Under  Mazarin, 
Richelieu  and  Louis  XIV,  France  having  re- 
tired from  the  fever  of  Italian  politics,  became 
a  compact  state  with  a  strongly  centralised 
government.  Could  Margaret  have  looked  into 
the  future  therefore,  she  would  have  seen  that 
ultimately,  her  marriage  was  to  fulfil  her  highest 

1  From  the  Savoyard  point  of  view  Margaret's  marriage 
was  most  happy,  it  was  la  clef  et  le  sceau  de  la  paix  et  concorde 
universelle.    Paradin,  Histoire  de  Lyon,  p.  432. 

188 


The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis 

hopes  and  to  bring  to  her  beloved  land  nothing 
but  honour  and  advantage.  Her  wedding  was 
fixed  to  take  place  in  the  summer,  shortly  after 
that  of  her  niece,  Elizabeth,  who  was  to  marry 
the  King  of  Spain  on  the  22nd  of  June. 


189 


CHAPTER    XI 

A   SAD   WEDDING 

The  Bridegroom's  Departure  from  Brussels  for  Paris — Signing 
of  the  Marriage  Contract  at  Les  Tournelles — The  formal 
Betrothal  and  Preparations  for  the  Wedding — Margaret's 
Trousseau — The  Tournament  and  the  Wounding  of  King 
Henry — The  Art  of  Surgery  in  the  sixteenth  century — 
Margaret's  midnight  Wedding — The  King's  Death. 

"  The  Duke  of  Savoy  on  the  day  before  the  King's  death 
made  his  most  tearful  marriage." — Giovanni  Michiel,  Venetian 
Ambassador  in  France  to  the  Doge  and  Senate. 

OUT  of  Brussels  city,  along  the  Paris 
road,  in  the  early  days  of  June,  1559, 
rode  the  three  hostages,  whom  Spain 
was  sending  to  France  for  the  execu- 
tion of  the  Cateau-Cambresis  Treaty.  Two  of 
them,  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  Count  von  Eg- 
mont,  were  Netherlanders  ;  and  in  the  coming 
Revolt  of  the  Netherlands  against  Spain,  both 
were  to  suffer  death,  one  by  the  assassin's  pistol 
the  other  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner.  The 
third  hostage,  the  Duke  of  Alva,  was  a  Spaniard 
and  a  sinister  figure  throughout  that  Rebellion  ; 
he  it  was  who  nine  years  later  sent  Egmont  to  a 
shameful  death  on  a  public  scaffold  in  Brussels. 

190 


A  Sad  Wedding 

Now  Alva  held  the  double  office  of  hostage  for 
the  treaty  and  proxy  for  King  Philip  in  his 
marriage  with  Madam  Elizabeth  of  France. 

On  that  June  day  each  hostage  rode  separately 
in  order  to  make  a  greater  display  of  his  retinue. 
The  suite  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  numbered  some 
six  hundred  horsemen,  those  of  Egmont  and  of 
Alva  some  four  hundred  each.  But  the  hostages 
were  also  accompanied  by  many  members  of  the 
Flemish  and  Spanish  nobility  who  were  travelling 
to  Paris  to  be  present  at  the  double  wedding  of 
Elizabeth  and  Philip  and  of  Margaret  and  Em- 
manuel Philibert.  On  the  way  this  courtly  throng 
was  entertained  at  Chantilly  and  at  Ecouen  by 
Francois  de  Montmorency,  Marechal  de  France, 
the  Constable's  eldest  son.  They  reached  Paris  on 
the  16th  of  June.  Outside  the  city  they  were  met 
by  a  company  of  French  nobles,  who  escorted 
them  to  the  outer  gate  of  the  Louvre.  There  the 
King  awaited  them.  Alva,  with  Spanish  ob- 
sequiousness, prostrated  himself  at  Henry's  feet  ; 
but  Henry,  raising  him,  insisted  on  greeting 
Philip's  proxy  as  if  he  had  been  Philip  himself. 

After  having  been  presented  to  Queen  Catherine 
and  to  Madam  Elizabeth,  Alva  paid  his  respects 
to  Madam  Margaret.  He  had  news  to  tell  her, 
which  she  heard  with  delight  :  the  Prince  of  Pied- 
mont had  even  then  left  the  Netherlands  and  with 
all  speed  was  hastening  along  the  Paris  road 
"  towards  the  joy  awaiting  him." 

191 


Margaret  of  France 

The  Duke's  departure  from  Brussels  had  been 
delayed,  ostensibly  because  his  clothes  were  not 
ready,  really,  so  he  told  the  Venetian  ambassador, 
because  Coligny  had  not  yet  handed  over  certain 
fortresses  on  the  Flemish  frontier,  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  Treaty,  should  be  delivered  to  Spanish 
governors. 

Before  he  started,  the  Low  Countries,  of  which 
he  had  been  for  some  time  regent,  presented 
Emmanuel  Philibert  with  a  handsome  gift  of 
between  four  and  five  thousand  crowns.  The 
money  must  have  been  very  acceptable,  for  the 
Duke  was  suffering  from  "  that  eternal  want  of 
pence,  which  vexes  public  men,"  his  jewels  were 
in  pawn,  he  was  heavily  in  debt,  no  revenues  from 
his  dominions  as  yet  flowed  into  his  purse,  and  he 
found  great  difficulty  in  equipping  himself  as  be- 
fitted the  bridegroom  of  the  Most  Christian  King's 
Sister. 

His  poverty  notwithstanding,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  crowns  did  the  Duke  spend  on 
clothes  for  himself  and  his  suite  and  on  costly 
gifts.  No  wonder  then  that  Savoy  and  his  gentle- 
men ruffled  it  finely1  when,  on  the  14th  of  June, 
they  rode  out  of  Brussels  city,  with  their  servants 
all  gorgeously  clad  in  such  liveries  of  silk  and  gold 
lace  as  were  never  known  to  have  been  fashioned 
before  in  the  memory  of  man. 

1  See  Malaguzzi  Valeri,  Le  Nozze  del  Duca  Emanuele  Fili- 
berto  di  Savoia,  p.  3. 

192 


A  Sad  Wedding 

The  brilliance  of  their  starting  however  was 
clouded  by  an  untoward  event  not  uncommon  in 
those  days  ;  a  gentleman  of  the  Duke's  company 
and  a  brave  soldier,  on  his  way  to  the  palace, 
dressed  in  his  new  livery,  was  suddenly  attacked 
and  slain  by  one  of  his  enemies. 

Savoy  travelled  slowly  and  did  not  reach  Paris 
until  the  21st  of  June.  At  the  city  gate  he  was 
met  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  afterwards  Charles  IX. 
And  then  with  great  ceremony  and  escorted  by 
five  hundred  and  fifty  French  gentlemen  in  crim- 
son satin  doublets  and  riding-coats  of  black  velvet 
trimmed  with  gold  lace,  the  Duke  of  Savoy  made 
his  solemn  entrance  into  the  city  of  his  bride. 

On  that  day  most  probably  Margaret  met  her 
betrothed.  On  the  morrow  was  the  wedding  of 
Elizabeth  with  King  Philip,  who  was  represented 
by  the  Duke  of  Alva.  Margaret,  by  her  bride- 
groom's presence,  was  happily  to  be  spared  those 
grotesque  rites  which  used  then  to  accompany  a 
marriage  by  proxy. 

On  the  27th  of  June,  an  illustrious  company 
assembled  at  the  palace  of  Les  Tournelles  for  the 
signing  of  Margaret's  marriage  contract.1 

1  Throckmorton,  the  English  ambassador  in  France  (Cal.  St. 
Papers  for  1559-60,  p.  347),  says  the  contract  was  signed  at 
"  Meigret,  a  house  of  the  Constable's  near  the  place  of  jousts,"  but 
in  the  contract,  as  reproduced  by  Guichenon,  Histoire  de  Savoie 
(Vol.  II,  pp.  530  et  seq.),  we  read,  ce  fut  fait  et  passe  en  VHostel 
des  Tournelles  a  Paris.  See  also  Turin  Archivio  di  Stato, 
Matrimonii  della  R.  Casa  di  Savoia,  Mazzo,  19. 
o  193 


Margaret  of  France 

The  party  included  the  King  and  Queen  of 
France,  the  King  and  Queen  of  Scotland,1  the 
newly  wedded  Queen  of  Spain  and  the  young 
Duchess  of  Lorraine,2  the  Constable,  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  of  Guise,  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine 
and  the  Prince  of  Ferrara.  The  youngest  witness 
to  the  marriage  contract  was  the  third  Margaret, 
then  a  child  of  seven,  the  bride's  niece  and  god- 
child and  the  King's  youngest  daughter,  who  later 
as  "Queen  Margot,  the  last  of  the  Valois,"  was 
to  display  all  the  vices  with  but  few  of  the 
virtues  of  her  house. 

The  contract3  fixed  Margaret's  dowry  at  three 
hundred  thousand  crowns,  secured  on  the  revenues 
of  Lyon,  Riom  and  Bourges,  two  hundred  thou- 
sand to  be  paid  on  the  wedding-day  and  the  re- 
mainder six  months  afterwards. 

The  day  after  the  signing  of  the  contract,  on 
Wednesday,  the  28th  of  June,  took  place  the 
formal  betrothal.  The  wedding  was  fixed  for  the 
following  Tuesday,  the  4th  of  July 4 ;  and  elaborate 
preparations  were  going  forward  at  the  Bishop's 
residence,  the  Palace  of  the  City-5  and  at  Les 
Tournelles.  The  poets  of  the  Pleiade  were  glorify- 
ing the  nuptials  in  Latin  and  French  verse.     Du 

1  The  Dauphin  Francis  and  Mary  Stuart. 

2  Claude,  Henry's  second  daughter. 

3  Archivio  di  Stato,  Turin.  Matrimoni  della  Real  Casa  di 
Savoia,  102,  Mazzo,  19. 

4  Ribier,  op.  cit.,  II,  p.  805. 

5  Now  the  Palais  de  Justice. 

194 


Photo. 


Giraudon 


MARGARET   OF    VALOIS,    A'l      VBOUT    THE    ACE   OK   THREE 
From  a  crayon  by  Francois  Clouet  in  the  Bibliotkeque  Nationale 


A  Sad  Weddin 

Bellay  had  written  an  Epithalamium  which  Morel's 
learned  daughters  were  to  recite  at  the  wedding 
banquet.  And  after  a  brief  respite  from  gaiety 
following  the  festivities  of  Madam  Elizabeth's 
wedding,  the  court  burst  forth  into  renewed 
magnificence,  masquerades  and  dancing,  feasting 
and  fireworks. 

In  the  midst  of  so  many  distractions  the  bride- 
elect  found  time  to  superintend  the  completion 
of  her  trousseau  ;  for  although  a  femme  savante, 
Madam  Margaret  took  a  keen  interest  in  clothes. 
She  loved  jewels  and  embroidery,  satin  and  velvet, 
and  handkerchiefs  embroidered  in  crimson  silk. 
In  her  accounts,1  side  by  side  with  the  Odes  of 
Horace  and  the  Ethics  of  Aristotle,  figure  violet 
stones  for  ear-rings,  passementerie  of  silver  and 
embossed  velvet. 

The  inventory  of  Margaret's  trousseau2  is  in- 
teresting as  revealing  the  modes  of  a  day  when 
Frenchwomen  were  beginning  to  supersede  their 
Italian  sisters  as  leaders  of  fashion. 3  At  the 
court  of  Henry  II  women  dressed  more  elabor- 
ately, wore  more  jewels  and  used  finer  perfumes 
than  in  the  days  of  King  Francis.  The  ladies  and 
gentlemen  of  Henry's  court  perfumed  everything, 

1  Doc.  cit. 

2  See  l'Aubespine,  Negotiations,  etc.,  pp.  196,  203. 

3  Francis  I  asked  Isabella  d'Este  to  send  him  a  doll  dressed 
in  the  latest  fashion  to  serve  as  a  fashion-plate  for  the  ladies 
of  his  court.  In  the  next  century  the  ladies  of  our  Charles  II's 
court  made  the  same  request  to  Louis  XIV. 

195 


Margaret  of  France 

even  their  horses'  harness.  And  despising  the 
simple  scents,  the  lavender  and  rose  used  by  their 
grandparents,  they  employed  wonderful  concoc- 
tions, distilled  from  ingredients  known  to  the 
compounders  alone.  Queen  Catherine  had  her 
own  perfumer.  Margaret's  golden  buttons  were 
made  hollow  and  filled  with  scent.  On  his  way 
through  Venice  from  Poland,  in  1574,  King 
Henry  III  of  France  on  musk  alone  spent  eleven 
hundred  and  twenty-five  crowns,  while  three 
paintings  by  Tintoretto  cost  him  only  one  hundred 
and  fifty.  Powder  and  patches  and  silk  stockings, 
never  dreamed  of  in  the  days  of  King  Francis, 
were  common  at  Henry  II 's  court. 

The  graceful  flowing  robes  worn  by  the  first 
Margaret  and  her  ladies  were  now  no  more. 
Women  began  to  cut  their  bodies  in  two,  into 
corsage  and  petticoat,  and  to  cultivate  the  small 
waist.  The  bodice  or  corps  pique 1  was  something 
like  a  corset,  with  busks  or  basquines,  made  of 
wood,  ivory,  silver  or  whalebone.  Margaret, 
we  learn  from  her  accounts,  bound  her  basquines 
with  silver  ribbon  ;  but  generally  they  were 
gilded  or  damascened  and  adorned  with  a  motto 
or  allegorical  design.  With  the  corps  pique  was 
worn  a  farthingale,  which  grew  wider  and  wider 
as  the  century  advanced,  the  farthingale  in  its 
expansion    keeping    company    with    the    ever- 

1  In  Corneille  de  Lyon's  portrait  of  Margaret,  at  Versailles, 
facing  page  86  of  this  volume,  she  is  wearing  un  corps  piqui. 

196 


A  Sad  Wedding 

broadening  padded  shoulders,  until  the  figure 
of  a  sixteenth-century  dame  came  to  resemble 
nothing  so  much  as  an  hour-glass.  Trains  were 
still  worn,  chiefly  on  state  occasions  ;  growing 
longer  and  longer  until  they  culminated  in  the 
Queen  of  Spain's  wedding-train  of  twenty-four 
metres,  which  was  borne  by  three  princesses  of 
the  blood,  each  with  a  modest  tail  measuring  eight 
metres. 

In  this  fashion  were  the  twenty-two  dresses  of 
Margaret's  trousseau.  The  prevailing  colours  were 
gold,  violet,  crimson,  yellow,  black,  grey  and 
white.  In  1559  as  in  191 1  black  velvet  was  highly 
favoured.  Other  stuffs  were  satin,  damask  and 
cloth  of  gold  and  of  silver.  In  violet  and  gold  were 
all  the  appointments  of  the  bride's  toilet-table, 
the  hangings  and  cushions  of  her  litter,  the 
liveries  of  her  lacqueys,  the  accoutrements  of  her 
horse,  and  the  coverings  of  her  marriage  coffer. 

Many  articles  which  Margaret  must  have  pos- 
sessed, gloves,  stockings,  boots  and  shoes  are 
absent  from  the  inventory.  Perhaps,  considering 
the  manners  of  the  century,  we  need  not  be  sur- 
prised to  find  the  trousseau  containing  but  a  very 
meagre  supply  of  linen  :  only  one  dozen  chemises 
and  one  dozen  night-dresses  ;  of  towels  one  dozen 
and  of  pillow-cases  one  dozen,  but  all  worked  in 
gold  and  in  silver. 

In  days  when  royal  chateaux  were  but  sparsely 
furnished  and  a  court  in  its  progress  had  to  con- 

197 


Margaret  of  France 

vey  from  palace  to  palace  its  pots  and  pans,  its 
beds  and  bedsteads,  its  chairs  and  tables,  we  find 
Margaret's  trousseau  including  every  appointment 
necessary  for  the  bed-chambers  of  the  Duchess 
and  of  her  ladies. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  inventory  and  strikingly 
pathetic  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  are 
those  gorgeous  garments — robe  of  yellow  satin, 
mantle  of  cloth  of  gold  and  dressing-gown  of  cloth 
of  silver — which  Margaret  was  to  wear  on  her 
wedding-day,  that  day  which  was  never  to  arrive, 
for  unworthy  the  name  of  wedding  was  her  sad 
midnight  bridal  hurried  through  by  torchlight,  but 
a  few  yards  from  the  bedside  of  the  dying  King. 

The  cloud  which  was  to  darken  Margaret's 
nuptials  was  already  appearing  in  the  sky.  The 
tournament,  which  was  to  end  in  Henry's  death, 
opened  on  the  very  day  of  his  sister's  betrothal. 
It  was  held  in  the  place  of  jousts,  immediately 
outside  the  Palace  of  Les  Tournelles,  where  the 
Rue  St.  Antoine  now  runs.  Here  the  paving  of 
the  street  had  been  taken  up  and  a  great  wooden 
amphitheatre  erected  with  the  usual  raised  boxes 
for  the  ladies.  For  each  of  the  combatants 
Joachim  du  Bellay  had  composed  a  motto.  M.  de 
Savoye's  happily  described  his  approaching  mar- 
riage as  the  union  of  war  and  letters,  of  Mars  and 
Minerva  : 

"  Mars  l'a  nourri  au  milieu  des  alarmes 
Pallas  en  elle  a  monstre  son  savoir." 

198 


A  Sad  Wedding 

During  the  first  two  days  of  the  tournament 
all  the  honours  were  with  King  Henry.  He  over- 
came the  Prince  of  Ferrara,  the  Duke  of  Guise 
and  the  Duke  of  Nemours.  Nowhere  did  the 
supple  figure  and  graceful  horsemanship  of  the 
King  appear  to  better  advantage  than  in  the  lists. 

And  Henry  was  the  admiration  of  all  beholders 
when  on  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day,  the  30th  of 
June,  he  rode  forth  accoutred  in  black  and  white 
"  because  of  the  fair  widow  whom  he  served." 

On  that  day  he  rode  a  fiery  Turkish  steed 
given  him  by  Emmanuel  Philibert,  and  called — 
but  doubtless  after  the  event — "  le  Malheureux." 

The  laws  of  the  tournament  required  each 
combatant  to  run  three  courses  and  three  courses 
only.  Then  he  was  expected  to  resign  his  place 
to  the  next  comer  on  the  same  side.  Henry 
accordingly  ran  the  first  course  with  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  and  the  second  with  the  Duke  of  Guise  ; 
and,  as  on  previous  days,  he  overcame  both  his 
adversaries.1  His  third  antagonist  was  the  Count 
of  Montgommery,  son  of  the  Count  de  Lorges, 
one  of  the  captains  of  the  Scottish  guard,  a  power- 
fully built  young  man,  considerably  taller  than 
Henry.  Montgommery  struck  the  King  so  roughly 
with  his  lance  that  Henry  reeled  in  the  saddle  and 
nearly  lost  one  of  his  stirrups.  Thus  ended  the 
King's  third  course,  and  he  should  now  have  left 

1  Cal.  St.  Papers  for  1559-60,  pp.  xlvi  et  seq.,  and   1558-59, 

P-347- 

199 


Margaret  of  France 

the  lists  and  given  way  to  the  next  comer.  But 
Henry,  dissatisfied  at  not  having  vanquished  his 
antagonist,  insisted  on  running  another  course. 
In  vain  did  Catherine  and  Margaret,  observing  him 
to  be  fatigued  and  excited,  implore  the  King  to 
desist.  Crying  that  for  love  of  the  Queen  he 
would  break  another  lance,  Henry  charged  Mont- 
gommery  upon  his  allegiance  to  remount  and 
take  his  place  at  the  end  of  the  lists.  There  was 
no  alternative  and  Montgommery  obeyed  with 
marked  reluctance.  Both  antagonists  splintered 
their  lances  successfully  ;  but  the  Count  neg- 
lected to  throw  away  the  broken  shaft  of  his, 
which  remained  in  his  hand  ;  and,  as  the  horses 
passed  each  other  in  the  lists,  it  struck  off  the 
King's  helmet,  knocking  off  his  plumes,  forcing 
open  his  visor  and  driving  a  splinter  into  his 
head  over  his  right  eye.  The  King  reeled,  dropped 
his  rein  and  would  have  fallen  from  his  horse,  had 
he  not  been  immediately  lifted  from  it.  Then, 
dazed  and  almost  fainting,  he  was  unarmed  in  the 
lists,  and  a  large  splinter  was  extracted  from  his 
temple  before  he  was  carried  into  Les  Tournelles.1 
Henry's  chamber  was  closed  to  all  save  his 
doctors.  Five  or  six  surgeons  attended  him,  and 
chief  among  them  was  the  great  Ambroise  Pare. 
But  in  days  when  surgeons  knew  little  of  anatomy 

1  In  the  jousts  of  the  day  such  accidents  were  not  uncommon. 
At  the  wedding  of  Jeanne  d'Albret  with  the  Duke  of  Cleves, 
the  Seigneur  de  Tavannes  had  received  a  similar  blow,  but,  after 
the  extraction  of  the  splinter,  he  speedily  recovered. 

200 


A  Sad  Wedding 

and  the  Church  forbade  dissecting  except  on  very 
special  occasions,  *  surgery  was  in  a  primitive  stage 
and  the  surgeon's  knife  was  often  more  deadly 
than  the  enemy's  bullet.  Before  Henry's  doctors 
could  prescribe  for  him  they  must  needs  have 
four  or  five  criminals  executed,  and,  having  in- 
flicted on  them  the  injuries  the  King  had  received, 
dissect  their  heads  in  the  hope  of  discovering  how 
to  treat  their  royal  patient.  No  sooner  had  they 
completed  their  experiments  than  they  were 
joined  by  Vesalius,  the  great  Dutch  anatomist,2 
whom  Philip  II,  when  he  heard  of  Henry's  acci- 
dent, had  despatched  post-haste  to  Paris.  It  was 
only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  and  by  means  of 
robbing  gibbets  at  night-time  that  Vesalius  had 
acquired  what  was  then  regarded  as  immense 
knowledge.  That  knowledge  now  enabled  him, 
much  to  the  astonishment  of  his  French  confreres, 
to  make  an  immediate  diagnosis  of  the  King's 
case,  and  one  which  exactly  agreed  with  their  own 

1  At  the  command  of  Charles  V  the  doctors  of  Salamanca  held 
a  conference  on  whether  it  were  lawful  to  dissect  the  human  body 
for  the  purpose  of  anatomical  study.  The  conclusion  they 
arrived  at,  if  any,  is  not  chronicled  by  Moreri,  who  in  Le  Grand 
Dictionaire  Historique,  under  "  Vesale,"  relates  the  incident. 

2  1 5 12-1564.  He  studied  and  taught  at  Louvain,  Paris,  and 
Padua.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  wrote  his  first  work,  La  Fabrique 
du  Corps  Humain.  On  returning  from  a  pilgrimage  from  the 
Holy  Land,  he  was  shipwrecked  in  the  Ionian  Sea,  and  died  of 
starvation  on  the  I.  of  Zante.  A  portrait  of  Vesalius  by  Titian 
hangs  in  the  Gallery  of  the  Uffizi  at  Florence  ;  but  it  has  suffered 
sadly  from  the  ravages  of  time. 

201 


Margaret  of  France 

barbarously  acquired  opinions.    Yet  even  Vesalius 
was  able  to  do  very  little  for  the  King. 

For  three  or  four  days  Henry  lay  in  a  comatose 
condition.  His  wound  was  frequently  dressed  ; 
and  the  court  hoped  for  the  best.  At  the  most 
the  King  will  lose  an  eye,  Montmorency  informed 
the  English  ambassador.  But  there  were  those, 
and  Catherine  was  among  them,  who  took  a 
gloomier  view  of  the  situation.  They  recalled 
prophecies,  one  of  an  Italian  astrologer  especially, 
which  had  seemed  to  foretell  this  catastrophe. 
Protestants  regarded  the  King's  accident  as  sent 
by  God  to  punish  him  for  the  persecution  of  their 
co-religionists.  The  majority,  at  a  time  when 
Calvinism  was  in  the  air,  darkly  regarded  this 
disaster  as  fore-ordained.  Belief  in  signs  and 
symbols  and  omens  was  rife.  And  the  captain 
Monluc,  in  a  narrative  so  vividly  representing 
the  spirit  of  the  age  as  to  demand  quotation  here, 
relates  how  the  wounding  of  the  King  was  fore- 
told to  him  in  a  dream.  We  quote  from  Cotton's 
vigorous  old  seventeenth-century  translation.1 

"  At  this  time,"  he  writes,  "  those  unhappy 
marriages  were  solemnised,  and  those  unfortunate 
triumphs  and  tiltings  held  at  court.  The  joy 
whereof  was  very  short,  and  lasted  but  a  very 
little  space,  the  death  of  the  King  ensuing  upon 
it,  running  against  that  accursed  Montgomery,2 

1  p.  215. 

*  Monluc  was  all  the  more  ready  to  curse  Montgommery  be- 
cause he  was  a  Huguenot. 

202 


A  Sad  Wedding 

who  I  would  to  God  had  never  been  born,  for 
his  whole  life  was  nothing  but  mischief,  and 
he  made  a  miserable  end.1  Being  one  day  at 
Nerac,  the  King  of  Navarre  shewed  me  a  letter 
that  Monsieur  de  Guise  had  writ  him,  wherein 
he  gave  him  notice  of  the  days  of  tilting,  in  which 
the  King  himself  was  to  be  in  person,  his  Majesty 
with  the  Dukes  de  Guise,  de  Ferrara,  and  de 
Nemours,  being  challengers.  I  shall  never  forget 
a  word  I  said  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  which  alas 
I  had  often  heard  spoken  before,  that  when  a 
man  thinks  himself  to  be  out  of  his  affairs,  and 
dreams  of  nothing,  but  how  to  pass  his  time  well, 
'tis  then  that  the  greatest  misfortunes  befal  him 
and  that  I  feared  the  issue  of  this  tilting.  It  was 
now  but  just  three  days,  reckoning  by  the  date 
of  the  letter  to  the  tilting,  and  the  next  day  I 
returned  home  to  my  own  house,  and  the  very 
night  before  the  tilting,  as  I  was  in  my  first 
sleep,  I  dream'd  that  I  saw  the  King  sitting 
in  a  chair,  with  his  face  covered  all  over  with 
drops  of  blood,  and  methought  it  was  just  as 
they  paint  Jesus  Christ,  when  the  Jews  put  the 
crown  of  thorns  upon  his  head,  and  that  he  held 
his  hands  joined  together,   I  looked  methought 

1  After  the  fatal  tournament  Montgommery  withdrew  to 
England,  where  he  is  said  to  have  become  a  Protestant.  Return- 
ing to  France,  he  fought  bravely  and  victoriously  on  the  Huguenot 
side  during  the  wars  of  religion.  But  in  1574  he  was  taken 
prisoner  in  Normandy  and  brought  to  Paris,  where  he  was  tried 
on  the  charge  of  having  plotted  the  death  of  Charles  IX.  He  was 
found  guilty  and  executed  on  the  Place  de  Greve  in  the  presence 
of  Catherine,  who,  as  soon  as  she  had  heard  of  his  capture,  deter- 
mined that  he  should  die  in  revenge  for  his  accidental  wounding 
of  her  husband. 

203 


Margaret  of  France 

earnestly  upon  him,  and  could  discover  no  hurt 
he  had,  but  only  drops  of  blood  trickling  down 
his  face.  I  heard  methought  some  say,  he  is 
dead,  and  others,  he  is  not  dead  yet,  and  saw 
the  physicians  and  chirurgeons  go  in  and  out 
of  the  chamber ;  and  I  do  believe  my  dream 
continued  a  great  while,  for  when  I  awaked, 
I  found  a  thing  I  could  have  never  believed, 
which  is,  that  a  man  can  cry  in  his  sleep  ;  for 
I  found  my  face  all  blubbered  with  tears,  and 
my  eyes  still  springing  new,  and  was  fain  to 
let  them  take  their  course,  for  I  could  not  give 
over  weeping  of  a  long  time  after.  My  wife, 
who  was  then  living,  said  all  she  could  to  comfort 
me,  but  all  in  vain,  for  I  could  never  persuade 
myself  any  other  but  that  he  was  dead." 

Margaret's  rational  mind  was  not  likely  to 
pay  heed  to  such  tales  of  dreams  and  prognostica- 
tions. But  she  grieved  deeply  over  her  brother's 
fate  and  she  felt  bitterly  towards  the  Count  by 
whose  hands  he  had  suffered.  And  Henry  in 
the  rare  intervals  when  he  was  conscious  was 
not  unmindful  of  his  sister.  He  feared  that  in 
the  event  of  his  death  the  Cateau-Cambresis 
Treaty  and  Margaret's  marriage  would  be  set 
on  one  side.  So,  when  he  came  to  himself, 
on  the  fourth  day  after  his  accident,  the  day 
which  had  been  fixed  for  Margaret's  wedding,  he 
summoned  Catherine  to  his  presence  and  bade 
her  hasten  the  preparations  for  the  marriage.1 

After  the  fatal  30th  of  June,  those  preparations 

1  Baron  de  Ruble,  Traite  de  Cateau-Cambresis,  p.  32. 

204 


A  Sad  Wedding 

had  been  abandoned  ;  the  decorations  at  Notre 
Dame,  the  Palace  and  the  Louvre  had  been 
taken  down,  and  the  wedding  had  been  indefinitely 
postponed.  Now  to  ease  the  King's  mind  it 
was  decided  to  hurry  it  on.1  On  the  8th  of  July 
Henry  became  seriously  worse,  his  temperature 
rose,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  marriage  must 
no  longer  be  delayed.  So,  a  little  after  midnight, 
in  the  small  hours  of  Sunday,  the  9th  of  July,  a 
little  party  assembled  by  torchlight  in  the  Chapel 
of  St.  Paul,2  just  outside  the  gates  of  Les  Tour- 
nelles.  There,  without  pomp  or  show,  in  rigid 
simplicity,  Margaret  of  France  was  united  to 
Emmanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy.  Catherine  was 
present,  sobbing  bitterly.  When  the  marriage 
party  had  left  the  palace,  the  King  was  un- 
conscious. During  the  ceremony,  Margaret  con- 
stantly looked  round,  expecting  every  moment  a 
messenger  to  announce  her  brother's  death.  But 
when  the  service  was  over  Henry  still  breathed. 
Then  the  bride  and  bridegroom  passed  out  of 
the  Chapel  to  the  apartments  of  the  Duke  of 
Savoy.  Through  that  day,  the  9th  of  July,  the 
King  lingered.  On  the  morrow,  the  10th  of  July, 
soon  after  noon,  Dien  fit  sa  volonte,  "  God's  will  was 
done,"  Writes  the  chronicler,  and  the  King  died. 

1  Regnier  de  la  Planche,  Histoire  de  VEstat  de  France  (Pan- 
theon Litteraire),  p.  204. 

2  The  church  (see  ante  p.  127,  note  1 )  is  no  longer  standing. 
It  was  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  present  street  of  St. 
Paul,  almost  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  St.  Antoine. 

205 


CHAPTER  XII 
Margaret's  departure  for  savoy  and  arrival 

AT   NICE 

A  brief  Honeymoon — Five  weeks  of  Mourning — Illness  of  the 
Duke  of  Savoy — The  Coronation  of  Francis  II — Return  of 
Emmanuel  Philibert  to  Savoy — Margaret  at  Paris  and  Blois 
— Her  Parting  with  Queen  Catherine — Her  Departure  for 
Savoy,  escorted  by  Michel  de  l'Hospital — Her  Reception  at 
Lyon — Her  Arrival  at  Marseille — Meeting  between  the  Duke 
and  Duchess — Festivities  at  Nice — Descent  of  the  Corsair 
Occhiali — Margaret  as  executrix  of  Jean  de  la  Vigne,  French 
Ambassador  at  Constantinople. 

"  Puis  que  la  nymphe  en  qui  fut  l'esperance 
Des  bon  sonneurs  s'absente  de  la  France, 
Allons-nous-en  sans  demeurer  icy 
Pour  en  languir  en  peine  et  en  soucy." 

Ronsard. 

MARGARET'S  honeymoon,  if  indeed 
such  it  can  be  called,  overcast  as 
it  was  by  the  shadow  of  her  brother's 
death,  was  as  brief  as  her  bridal  had 
been  hurried.  Savoy's  presence  was  required 
in  the  Low  Countries,  where  King  Philip  awaited 
him.  So,  on  the  18th  of  July,  but  a  week  after 
her  wedding,  Margaret  had  to  bid  her  husband 
farewell.  Early  in  the  day,  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
wrapped  in  a  heavy  mourning  cloak,  gazed  for 

206 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

the  last  time  on  the  King's  body  as  it  lay  in 
state  at  Les  Tournelles.  Then  he  set  forth  for 
Brussels,  where  he  was  to  surrender  his  governor- 
ship of  the  Low  Countries  into  the  hands  of 
Margaret  of  Parma,  King  Philip's  natural  sister. 

From  Brussels,  Savoy  accompanied  the  King 
to  Antwerp  ;  and  thence  on  the  19th  of  August 
he  wrote  a  letter,  revealing  that  Margaret  was 
already  beginning  to  exercise  that  influence  over 
her  husband's  policy  which  she  retained  until 
the  day  of  her  death.  Indeed  even  at  this  early 
date  in  their  married  life  it  seemed  as  if  Bochet's 
prophecy  were  being  verified. 

This  letter  is  addressed  to  Margaret's  Chan- 
cellor, Michel  de  l'Hospital.  He  and  the  Duke 
must  have  made  each  other's  acquaintance  during 
1' Hospital's  brief  visit  to  Brussels  when  he  came 
to  draw  up  the  marriage  contract.  They  had 
doubtless  met  again  while  Emmanuel  Philibert 
was  at  Paris.  But  the  Duke  can  have  seen 
but  little  of  his  correspondent.  And  for  the 
praise  bestowed  upon  him  in  the  following  letter 
l'Hospital  was  doubtless  indebted  to  his  kind 
mistress.  Savoy  writes  to  ask  l'Hospital  to  aid 
him  in  reforming  the  administration  of  justice  in 
Savoy  : 

"  Now,"  runs  the  letter,  "  that  it  hath  pleased 
Almighty  God,  by  the  means  of  this  holy  peace, 
to  restore  me  the  estates  which  have  so  long 
time     been    occupied     [presumably,     "  by     the 

207 


Margaret  of  France 

foreigner  "],  after  the  concerns  of  religion,  my 
greatest  desire  is  to  provide  for  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  because  it  is  of  itself  important 
and  because  in  my  dominions  it  stands  in  great 
need  of  reformation.  Being  therefore  resolved 
to  do  my  duty  by  establishing  order  in  this 
department  of  my  state,  and  desiring  nothing 
more  ardently  than  to  govern  my  people  as  a  just 
and  righteous  prince,  I  have  determined  to  make 
known  this  my  resolve  unto  you  as  being  a  man 
of  virtue  and  of  prudence  ;  for  I  am  assured 
that  by  your  good  counsel  not  only  my  estates 
but  larger  kingdoms,  were  they  ruined  and  about 
to  perish  would  be  speedily  strengthened  and 
restored.  Wherefore,  placing  absolute  confidence 
in  your  judgment,  I  entreat  of  you  to  consider 
and  to  communicate  to  me  in  writing  or  other- 
wise the  means  whereby  I  may  bring  to  per- 
fection so  great  an  undertaking ;  for  which 
service  I  shall  be  greatly  obliged.  Wishing  that 
God  may  grant  you  every  joy,  Monsieur  de 
THospital,  as  well  as  health  and  long  life.  From 
Antwerp,  on  the  17th  of  August,  1559. 

"  Your  good  friend, 

"  Emmanuel  Philibert."  1 

This  letter  is  a  striking  testimony  not  only  to 
the  high  esteem  in  which  the  Duke  held  Michel 
de  FHospital  but  to  the  complete  confidence 
Emmanuel  Philibert  placed  in  his  wife's  judgment. 
And  on  this  occasion,  as  on  almost  every  other 

1  Quoted  from  the  Archivio  di  Stato  at  Turin  by  Dupre  Lasale. 
Michel  de  I' Hospital,  Vol.  II,  p.  131. 

20S 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

when  Margaret  ventured  to  express  an  opinion 
in  matters  of  state,  events  proved  the  wisdom 
of  her  counsel,  and  Michel  de  l'Hospital  became 
an  invaluable  adviser  to  the  Duke.  With  truly 
legal  caution  he  advised  Emmanuel  Philibert  to 
proceed  according  to  the  judicial  traditions  of 
his  dominions  and  to  introduce  nothing  new. 
Consequently  the  new  law  courts  established  by 
the  French  during  their  occupation  were  abolished, 
and  the  old  tribunals  instituted  by  the  wise  Duke, 
Amadeus  VIII,  who  had  so  greatly  benefited  Savoy 
in  the  previous  century,  were  restored.  Moreover 
great  care  was  exercised  in  the  appointment  of 
judges.  And  throughout  the  reign  of  Emmanuel 
Philibert  this  system  of  judicature  seems  to  have 
worked  extremely  well. 

Savoy's  stay  in  the  Netherlands  was  longer 
than  he  had  originally  intended.  It  had  been 
decided  that  he  should  remain  with  Philip  until 
the  latter  set  forth  for  Spain.  And  the  King's 
departure  was  constantly  delayed  by  unfavour- 
able winds.1  The  Duke  may  also  have  deemed 
it  prudent  not  to  return  to  France  until  he  had 
received  authentic  tidings  of  the  surrender  of  his 
dominions  by  the  French,  in  accordance  with 
the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis. 

On  the  4th  of  August  news  reached  Philibert 
that  the  restitution  had  not  yet  been  begun. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  first  cession  of  territory 

1  Catherine  de  Mddicis.    Lettres,  ed.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  124. 
p  209 


Margaret  of  France 

took  place  at  Chambery  on  the  7th  of  August, 
and  from  that  date  it  proceeded  without  let 
or  hindrance  through  the  month.  Therefore, 
after  the  embarkation  of  King  Philip  on  the  25th 
of  August,  Emmanuel  Philibert  was  free  to 
return  to  his  wife,  whom  he  rejoined  early  in 
September. 

During  her  husband's  absence  Margaret  had 
been  sharing  with  her  sister-in-law  the  close 
confinement  of  a  royal  widow's  deepest  mourning. 

Shortly  after  the  King's  death,1  Margaret 
and  Catherine,  with  the  court,  left  Les  Tournelles 
and  took  up  their  residence  in  the  Louvre. 

In  her  horror  of  the  place  where  her  husband 
had  met  with  his  death,  Catherine  disregarded 
the  custom  which  required  a  French  queen  to 
inhabit  for  a  year  after  her  husband's  death  the 
room  in  which  she  had  first  heard  of  his  decease. 
Hurrying  from  Les  Tournelles,  Catherine  never 
beheld  the  palace  again.  Some  years  afterwards, 
in  1565,  it  was  pulled  down,  probably  by  the 
Queen's  orders. 

From  the  Louvre  the  court  went  to  Saint- 
Germain.  And  there  for  five  weeks  the  faithful 
Margaret,  renouncing  bridal  feasts  and  ceremonies, 
stayed  by  her  sister-in-law's  side  in  that  dimly 
lighted,  black-draped,  black-carpeted  room,  which 

1  Not  probably  on  the  same  day,  au  meme  instant  du  trepas, 
as  a  court  personage  writes  to  the  Cardinal  de  Tournon.  Ribier, 
op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  809. 

210 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

etiquette  prescribed  as  a  royal  widow's  abode 
during  the  forty  days  following  her  husband's 
death.  On  the  22nd  of  August  the  time  of  strictest 
mourning  was  ended.1  On  that  day  Margaret 
and  Catherine  were  present  at  a  solemn  mass  in 
the  chapel  of  Saint-Germain,  that  same  chapel 
where  thirty-six  years  earlier  the  baby  Margaret 
had  been  held  over  the  font  by  her  aunt  the 
Queen  of  Navarre.  This  service  was  Catherine's 
first  appearance  in  public  since  her  husband's 
death.  We  are  told  that  the  Queen  was  wrapped 
in  sadness  and  bathed  in  tears. 

A  few  days  later  the  court  went  to  Villers- 
Cotterets.  And  there,  early  in  September,  Mar- 
garet was  reunited  to  her  husband.  The  joy 
of  their  meeting  was  clouded  by  an  illness 2 
which  attacked  Emmanuel  Philibert  immediately 
after  his  return.  On  this  account  the  coronation 
of  Francis  II  was  postponed  from  the  5th  of 
September  until  the  18th.  For  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  was  now  one  of  the  most  important  per- 
sonages at  court.  Catherine  from  the  time  of  his 
betrothal  to  her  sister-in-law  had  been  eager 
to  admit  him  to  her  friendship  and  confidence. 
The  young  King  looked  up  to  his  uncle  as  to  a 
father  and  included  him  in  the  Royal  Council. 

1  The  King's  funeral  at  St.  Denis  took  place  on  August  13th. 
Archives  Curieuses,  1st  series,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  328. 

2  For  the  greater  part  of  his  life  Emmanuel  Philibert  suffered 
from  a  kidney  disease,  which  ultimately  caused  his  death. 

211 


Margaret  of  France 

In  return  for  this  honour  Emmanuel  Philibert 
brought  from  the  Low  Countries  the  order  of 
the  Golden  Fleece,  with  which  Philip  II  was 
pleased  to  invest  his  brother-in-law,  King 
Francis. 

The  Duke's  illness  did  not  last  long ;  and 
by  the  nth  of  September  he  was  well  enough 
to  accompany  the  court  in  its  progress  from 
Villers-Cotterets  to  Reims.  On  the  14th  Margaret 
and  her  niece,  Elizabeth,  the  newly  wedded  Queen 
of  Spain,  made  their  state  entry  into  Reims. 
The  young  King  Francis  and  his  Queen,  Mary 
Stuart,  followed  on  the  next  day.  Owing  to 
Henry's  recent  death,  the  coronation,  which 
took  place  on  the  18th,  was  bereft  of  much  of 
its  customary  grandeur.  Margaret  still  wore 
mourning  for  her  brother ;  while  her  husband, 
not  being  completely  recovered  from  his  illness, 
watched  the  procession  in  private,  wearing  the 
unfestive  attire  of  "  hat  and  nightgown,"  or, 
as  we  should  say,  "  dressing-gown."  1 

Soon  after  the  coronation  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
bade  the  court  farewell.  Emmanuel  Philibert  was 
impatient  to  return  to  his  dominions.  Margaret 
had  business  in  Paris.  They  journeyed  together 
part  of  the  wa}^,  possibly  as  far  as  Paris  ;  2  but 
they  had  parted  by  the  time  the  Duke  made  his 
state  entry  into  Lyon  on  the  5th  of  October, 

1  Dupre  Lasale,  Michel  de  V Hospital,  II,  164. 

2  Guichenon,  Histoire  de  Br  esse,  pp.  106-7. 

212 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

for  in  the  accounts  of  this  ceremony  x  Margaret 
is  not  mentioned. 

The  Duchess  of  Savoy  stayed  in  Paris  until  the 
22nd  of  October,  receiving  visits  from  the 
Constable,  the  King  of  Navarre  and  Diane  of 
Poitiers.2  On  the  22nd  Margaret  left  Paris3  to 
rejoin  the  court,  which  on  the  morrow  arrived 
at  the  chateau  of  the  Marechal  St.  Andre  at 
Vallery.  Thence  Catherine  wrote  to  Emmanuel 
Philibert  describing  the  reunion  with  her  sister- 
in-law  as  the  greatest  pleasure  she  could  enjoy.4 

Instead  of  proceeding  straight  to  Savoy  as 
she  had  originally  intended,  Margaret  accom- 
panied the  court  to  Blois  for  the  festival  of  All 
Saints.  Possibly  it  was  Catherine  who  persuaded 
her  to  delay  her  departure,  for  the  sisters-in- 
law  were  loath  to  part  ;  or  it  may  have  been  that 
Emmanuel  Philibert,  who  was  making  a  tour 
of  his  dominions,  was  not  ready  to  receive  his 
wife  ;  or  again  Margaret  herself  may  have  deemed 

1  See  Antoine  Pericaud,  Notes  et  Documents  pour  servir  d  I'histoire 
de  Lyon  (1840),  pp.  33-34,  and  l'Aubespine,  Negotiations,  etc., 
p.  795.  I  must  therefore  disagree  with  Roger  Peyre,  op.  tit.,  p.  70, 
note  2,  who  says  that  the  Duchess  accompanied  her  husband  into 
Lyon.  Moreover,  Dupre  Lasale,  in  Michel  de  VHospital  avant  son 
elevation  au  poste  de  Chancelier  (Vol.  II,  p.  258),  quotes  F.F.  2064, 
Fo.  54,  according  to  which  document  Margaret's  intention  on 
leaving  the  court  was  to  go  straight  to  Paris. 

2  G.  Michiel,  Cat.  St.  Papers  Venetian,  Vol.  VII,  p.  129. 

3  Cal.  St.  Papers,  For.  Eliz.,  1559-60,  p.  56. 

4  C'est  le  plus  grand  plaisir  que  je  pourrais  avoir.  Lettres,  ed. 
tit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  127. 

213 


Margaret  of  France 

it  imprudent  to  leave  France  until  certain  clauses 
of  her  marriage  contract  had  been  executed. 
Whatever  the  reason  for  her  delay  she  remained 
at  Blois  until  the  18th  of  November.  On  that 
day  her  niece,  Elizabeth,  set  out  for  Spain, 
accompanied  as  far  as  Chatelherault  by  the 
King  and  Queen  of  France  and  the  Queen-Mother. 
On  that  day  or  a  little  later  Margaret  also  started. 
And  certainly  on  that  day,  and  with  tearful 
countenance,  Margaret  took  leave  of  Catherine. 
The  Queen,  always  maternal,  tried  to  console  her 
sister  with  the  hope  that  she  was  about  to  become 
the  mother  of  a  prince.  But  Margaret  refused 
to  be  comforted  or  to  forget  her  sadness  at  leaving 
kinsfolk  and  friends,  the  associations  of  childhood 
and  the  land  which  was  so  dear  to  her,  in  order 
to  stake  all  on  a  new  love.1 

Some  of  Margaret's  friends  however  went 
with  her.  In  her  numerous  train  travelled 
the  poet  Baccio  del  Bene,2  with  whom  she  de- 
lighted to  discuss  Aristotle.  At  the  head  of  her 
escort  was  her  trusty  servant  and  friend  Michel 
de  l'Hospital,  whom  she  had  appointed  Chancellor 
of  her  new  principality. 

During  the  last  ten  years,  l'Hospital,  through 
Margaret's  favour,  had  been  receiving  important 
preferment  :  appointed  to  be  Chancellor  of  Berry 

1  Michel  de  l'Hospital,  Ad  Jacobrum  Fabrum,  Dufey,  IV, 
p.  8. 

2  See  ante  p.  t,j. 

214 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

in  1550,  then  master  of  requests  and  comptroller 
of  finances,  he  had  been  admitted  to  the  Priv}/ 
Council  after  Henry's  death.  Now  his  mistress 
claimed  him  for  Savoy. 

Together  the  Duchess  and  her  Chancellor 
set  forth  from  Blois.  Margaret  and  her  ladies 
were  still  in  mourning  for  King  Henry.  And 
it  was  probably  just  before  her  departure  from 
the  French  court  that  Francois  Clouet  (dit  Janet) 
executed  that  interesting  crayon  sketch  (see 
p.  xxvii)  which  is  now  in  the  British  Museum  and 
is  doubtless  the  original  of  the  oil  painting  in 
the  picture  gallery  at  Turin.  In  this  portrait 
Margaret  wears  the  white  state  mourning  of 
France  ;  and  the  picture  therefore  recalls  that 
famous  portrait  of  Mary  Stuart,1  also  by  Clouet, 
and  executed  about  a  year  later,  when  Mary  was 
in  mourning  for  her  husband,  the  young  King, 
Francis  II. 

The  story  of  his  journey  with  Margaret  from 
Blois  to  Nice,  at  its  conclusion,  l'Hospital  related 
in  a  Latin  poem,  Iter  Nicceum,  addressed  in  the 
form  of  an  epistle  to  his  friend  Faber.  Here 
the  Chancellor  tells  how  with  a  numerous  suite 
of  lords  and  ladies,  accompanied  by  Margaret's 
Florentine  friend,  Baccio  del  Bene,  by  Carlo 
Provana,   Abbot  of  Novalesi,   whom   Emmanuel 

1  There  are  many  copies  of  this  picture,  but  the  original  is 
probably  that  in  the  Bib.  Nat.  at  Paris  (J.  J.  Foster,  Concerning 
the  Portraiture  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  p.  32). 

215 


Margaret  of  France 

Philibert  had  sent  to  escort  his  wife,  and  by 
two  of  those  persons  who  were  indispensable  in 
every  royal  household  of  the  day,  the  fools, 
Tertulle  and  Bogomare,  they  set  out  from  Blois. 

Certain  incidents  of  the  way  are  graphically 
related  by  the  Chancellor.  He  tells,  for  example, 
how  the  driver  of  Del  Bene's  chariot  narrowly 
escaped  death  by  falling  from  his  seat  when  he 
was  drunk,  but  how  his  very  drunkenness  pre- 
served him,  for  although  the  chariot  wheels 
passed  over  his  body,  his  blood  was  "  so  inflated  " 
with  drink  that  he  was  able  to  bear  their  weight 
without  suffering  any  injury.1 

At  Romorantin,  the  Duchess  and  her  suite 
passed  the  first  night  of  their  journey.  Here, 
Margaret,  who,  for  reasons  already  explained, 
had  decided  to  avoid  Bourges,  received  a  deputa- 
tion of  aldermen  from  that  town,  who  came  to 
inform  her  of  the  grant  which  the  city  was 
prepared  to  yield  her  for  the  expenses  of  her 
marriage.  With  its  amount,  as  we  shall  remember, 
she  was  not  very  well  pleased.  And  it  was 
probably  in  order  to  explain  the  cause  of  her 
displeasure  to  the  citizens,  that  the  Duchess 
requested    her    Chancellor    to    return    with    the 

1  Michel  de  l'Hospital  op.  cit.,  p.  371. 

"Creditur  ebrietas,  multos  quae  perdidit  olim, 
Hunc  servasse  virum  :   nam  multo  quum  gravis  esset 
Inflatus  venasque  mero,  robustius  actas 
Sustinintque  rotas,  et  pressum  ponderis  omnem." 

216 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

aldermen  to  Bourges  and  to  rejoin  her  further 
on.  At  Romorantin  too  an  inventory  was  taken 
of  Margaret's  jewels. 

Proceeding  by  way  of  Moulins,  where  the 
Duchess  received  a  magnificent  reception  and 
was  detained  five  days  by  the  floods,  to  Varennes, 
Roanne  and  Tartare,  the  travellers,  on  the  16th 
of  December,  reached  Vaize,1  then  a  village  on 
the  outskirts  of  Lyon,  now  a  suburb  of  the  town. 

At  Vaize  Margaret  stayed  the  night  in  the 
house  of  one  Milan  Caze ;  and  there  she  prepared 
for  her  state  entry  into  Lyon  on  the  morrow. 

The  Lyonnese  welcomed  Margaret  magnificently, 
spending  on  her  entertainment  no  less  than  205 
livres.  At  noon  on  the  17th  of  December,  after 
having  dined  together,  the  governor  and  the 
councillors,  surrounded  by  forty  halberdiers,  to 
protect  them  from  the  crowd,  went  out  to  Vaize, 
to  the  house  in  which  the  lady  was,  to  do  her 
reverence  and  to  wish  her  welcome.  And  after 
them  came  the  sergeants  and  the  archers  of  the 
provost  of  the  merchants — followed  by  the  notables 
of  the  town,  all  on  horseback  and  in  good  order. 
Then  came  the  children  of  the  town  and  finally 
the  aldermen.  By  these  dignitaries  the  Duchess 
was  conducted  in  her  litter,  over  which  was 
held  a  canopy  of  purple  velvet  adorned  with 
the  arms  of  France,  to  the  Bourgneuf  Gate  and 
thence    round    the    city ;    having  been   received 

1  Pericaud,  op.  cit.,  pp.  33-34. 
217 


Margaret  of  France 

by  the  clergy,  who  replaced  the  aldermen  as 
canopy-bearers,  she  entered  the  cathedral  of  St. 
Jean,  and  finally  reached  the  Archbishop's  palace 
where  she  was  to  reside  during  her  stay  at  Lyon. 

Of  this  pageant  1' Hospital  says  not  a  word. 
He  is  too  much  occupied  in  giving  a  description 
of  sixteenth-century  Lyon,  comparing  it  with 
the  ancient  town,  greatly  to  the  disadvantage  of 
the  modern  city.  The  Romans,  he  writes,  had 
built  their  town  on  the  open  hill-side,  where  the 
air  was  pure  and  whence  the  prospect  was  ex- 
tensive. But,  when  ancient  Lyon  was  destroyed 
by  lightning,  later  builders  dumped  down  a  city 
in  the  narrow  space  betwixt  the  hill  foot  and  the 
river,  where  the  inhabitants,  shut  in  by  the 
hills  on  the  one  hand  and  the  river  on  the  other, 
were  for  half  the  day  at  least  enveloped  in  a  damp 
mist.  Meanwhile  the  restricted  area  of  the  city 
necessitated  the  houses  being  built  of  many 
stories  ;  and  this  style,  so  common  in  mediaeval 
towns,  is  strongly  condemned  by  l'Hospital, 
who  had  a  true  feeling  for  classic  architecture. 

Among  the  mists  and  "  the  sky-scrapers ' 
of  Lyon,  Margaret  stayed  some  days.  She  must 
have  found  much  to  interest  her  in  that  centre  of 
learning  and  literature.  Although  some  of  Lyon's 
most  learned  ladies  had  passed  away,  Louise 
Labe,  the  greatest  of  them  all,  was  still  living 
and  gathering  round  her  men  of  artistic  taste 
and  intellectual  culture. 

218 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

Setting  forth  from  Lyon,  shortly  before  Christ- 
mas Day,  Margaret  and  her  suite  travelled 
south  through  Viennois,  passing  Roussillon  and 
Vienne  with  its  Roman  antiquities,  the  vineyards 
now  bare  and  barren  of  Tain,  Tournon,  where 
the  Dauphin,  Francois,  had  died,  and  where  the 
Duchess  visited  the  fine  college  erected  by  the 
Cardinal  de  Tournon,  Valence  with  its  famous 
university,  Avignon  with  the  palace  of  the 
popes  and  Laura's  tomb,  to  Salon,  where  Mar- 
garet, despite  her  scepticism  in  matters  astro- 
logical, consented  to  visit  the  great  soothsayer, 
Nostradamus.1 

Margaret,  bred  chiefly  in  the  north,  had  prob- 
ably chosen  to  enter  her  southern  dominions 
in  the  coolest  season  of  the  year.  But  December 
and  January  were  not  good  months  for  travelling. 
The  party  had  already  been  once  detained  by 
the  floods  ;  and  now  again,  when  they  came 
to  ford  the  swollen  Durance,  they  experienced 
considerable  difficulty.  The  mule  which  bore 
l'Hospital's  baggage  refused  to  enter  the  torrent 
and  had  to  be  blindfolded  before  it  could  be 
induced  to  breast  the  surging  waters. 

Once  across  the  Durance,  Margaret  and  her 
suite  reached  the  last  stage  of  their  journey. 
Traversing  the  great  plain  of  the  Camargue,  at 
Martigues,  they  came  upon  the  Mediterranean  ; 
and  the  sight  of  the  southern  sea  must  have  been 

1  See  post  pp.  234-6. 
219 


Margaret  of  France 

wellnigh  as  welcome  to  Margaret  as  the  sight  of 
the  Euxine  to  Xenophon  and  his  Greeks.  From 
the  high  rocks  of  Martigues  Margaret  could 
espy  the  walls  and  villas  of  Marseille  where  her 
husband  awaited  her,  having  with  four  galleys 
journeyed  from  Nice  to  meet  his  bride. 

The  joy  of  their  reunion,  says  l'Hospital, 
passed  his  power  of  description.  Once  having 
delivered  his  royal  charge  into  her  husband's 
keeping,  the  Chancellor  bade  her  a  brief  farewell  ; 
for,  being  a  bad  sailor,  he  preferred  to  continue 
the  journey  by  land,  while  the  Duke  and  Duchess, 
with  such  of  their  suite  who  feared  not  the  sea, 
embarked  on  the  four  galleys  and  proceeded  to 
Nice,  the  Savoyard  capital.  L'Hospital  was  the 
first  to  arrive  ;  and  so  he  was  in  time  to  see  the 
fleet  sail  into  harbour  and  the  Duchess  conducted 
by  her  husband  to  her  new  home. 

In  the  capital  of  her  Transalpine  dominions 
Margaret  was  received  with  all  the  honour  and 
good  cheer  she  could  desire.  Not  only  her  own 
subjects  but  neighbouring  potentates  were  eager 
to  welcome  her.  The  two  princes  of  Monaco, 
Honore  and  Etienne  Grimaldi,  wrote  to  con- 
gratulate her  on  her  safe  arrival  and  to  protest 
their  friendship.  On  the  31st  of  January,  1560, 1 
Margaret  replied,  thanking  them  for  their  letter, 

1  This  letter,  which  was  written  from  Nice,  helps  to  fix  the 
date  of  Margaret's  arrival.  She  had  been  about  six  weeks  on  the 
journey. 

220 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

and  assuring  them  that  when  occasion  arose  she 
also  would  be  happy  to  render  them  service. 
Some  years  later  she  was  able  to  put  her  neigh- 
bours' friendliness  to  the  test ;  and  at  her  request 
Prince  Honore  returned  to  its  owners  a  Pied- 
montese  ship  and  its  cargo  of  wool,  which  had 
been  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Monaco. 

The  festivities  in  honour  of  Margaret's  coming 
to  Nice  were  disturbed  by  an  untoward  event 
not  uncommon  in  those  days,  especially  on  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Shortly  after  the 
Princess's  arrival,  on  a  day  when  the  Duke  and 
his  lords  were  hunting  near  Villefranche,  a  port 
between  Nice  and  Monaco,  a  pirate  fleet  of  six 
or  seven  vessels  appeared  in  the  harbour.  It  was 
commanded  by  one  of  the  greatest  captains  of 
the  day,  by  none  other  than  the  terrible  corsair 
Occhiali,  known  also  as  Ali  the  Renegade,  Viceroy 
of  Algiers.1 

So  romantic  is  Occhiali's  history  that  we  must 
pause  in  our  narrative  to  give  a  brief  summary  of 
it  here.  He  was  born  a  Christian,  in  a  village  of 
Calabria,  of  poor  parents  who  were  fisher-folk. 
While  exercising  the  parental  calling,  Occhiali 
was  captured  by  Algerian  pirates  and  set  to  row 
on  their  galleys.  The  Calabrian  was  shunned  and 
disliked  by  his  fellow-slaves  because  of  a  skin 
disease  with  which  he  was  afflicted.    Becoming 

1  Guichenon,  Histoire  GenSalogique  de  la  Royale  Maison  de 
Savoie  (1660),  I,  p.  679. 

221 


Margaret  of  France 

a  butt  for  the  blows  and  insults  of  his  comrades, 
we  read  that  he  found  the  religion  of  his  birth, 
which  preached  resignation,  somewhat  incon- 
venient. Wherefore,  in  order  to  be  able  to  strike 
back  without  suffering  qualms  of  conscience,  he 
turned  Mahommedan,  and  thereby  gained  a 
further  advantage,  for  he  attracted  the  notice  of 
his  superiors,  who  regarded  him  as  an  interesting 
convert.  Promotion  followed,  and,  ascending 
swiftly  from  rank  to  rank,  Occhiali  rose  to  be 
Viceroy  of  Algiers.1  In  this  capacity  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  command  the  Turkish  fleet.  And  he 
it  was  whom  Don  John  of  Austria  defeated  at  the 
Battle  of  Lepanto  in  1571.2 

Although  in  Turkey  defeat  generally  entailed 
disgrace  and  dismissal  from  office,  Occhiali,  even 
after  Lepanto,  was  clever  enough  to  retain  the 
Sultan's  favour.  Having  ceased  to  reign  at 
Algiers,  he  built  himself  a  great  palace  near 
Constantinople  and  erected  near  by  a  magnificent 
tomb,  in  which  he  was  buried  after  his  death  in 
1587. 3 

But  now  to  return  to  that  January  day  in  1560, 

1  See  reference  to  Aly  Cialy,  a  Greek  renegade  in  Calabria, 
Cal.  St.  Papers,  for.  1564-5,  p.  216. 

2  See  Brantome,  Life  of  Don  John  of  Austria  {CEuvres,  ed. 
Lalanne,  II,  p.  112)  for  an  account  of  this  battle. 

3  For  a  graphic  account  of  his  career  see  Histoire  des  Rois 
d' Alger,  par  Fray  Diego  de  Haedo,  Abbe  de  Fromesta,  trad,  et 
annotee,  par  H.  D.  de  Grammont  (Revue  Africaine,  Nov.-Dec, 
1880). 

222 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

when  the  Viceroy  of  Algiers  sailed  into  the  harbour 
of  Villefranche  and  spoilt  the  Duke  of  Savoy's 
hunting-party. 

Five  hundred  men  were  all  that  Emmanuel 
Philibert  could  for  the  moment  summon  to  his 
defence.  So,  in  order  to  keep  the  pirates  at  bay 
until  reinforcements  arrived  from  Nice,  the  Duke 
had  two  culverins  brought  down  to  the  shore, 
and  opened  fire  on  the  invaders.  But  they, 
nothing  daunted,  landed  in  the  teeth  of  the  fire, 
and  putting  the  Savoyards  to  flight,  nearly  captured 
Emmanuel  Philibert  himself,  who,  while  protect- 
ing his  men's  retreat,  would  have  fallen  into  the 
enemy's  hands  had  he  not  been  rescued  by  one  of 
his  own  knights. 

Forty  Savoyard  soldiers  and  thirty  nobles  were 
slain  or  captured.  Emmanuel  Philibert,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  been  renowned  for  exacting  large 
sums  of  money  from  his  prisoners  of  war  ;  now 
he  himself  had  to  pay  heavy  ransom. 

No  less  than  twelve  thousand  crowns  Occhiali 
demanded  before  he  would  set  his  captives  free, 
and  that  was  not  all :  he  had  heard  of  Margaret's 
learning  and  virtue,  and  he  must  see  the  Duchess, 
he  stipulated,  before  restoring  his  prisoners  to 
liberty. 

It  was  an  unusual  request,  but  the  Duke  saw  no 
reason  why  it  should  not  be  granted  j  and  so, 
doubtless  without  consulting  his  wife,  he  agreed 
to  the  corsair's  curious  condition. 

223 


Margaret  of  France 

But  he  reckoned  without  his  host.  Margaret 
refused  to  admit  to  her  presence  a  chieftain  who 
had  recently  threatened  her  husband's  life.  Con- 
sequently a  piece  of  duplicity  was  resorted  to, 
in  which  we  trust  Margaret  had  no  part.  The 
promised  interview  took  place,  but  a  lady  of 
Margaret's  suite,  dressed  in  the  clothes  of  the 
Duchess,  personated  her  mistress  and  the  corsair 
was  none  the  wiser.1 

The  fame  of  the  Duchess  had  evidently  ex- 
tended beyond  Christendom  into  the  Mussulman 
world.  But  it  is  not  strange  that  she  should  have 
been  talked  about  in  Turkish  circles,  for  the 
late  French  ambassador  at  Constantinople  had 
been  one  of  her  most  intimate  friends. 

Jean  de  la  Vigne,2  Seigneur  d'Auvilliers,  had 
been  appointed  to  represent  France  at  the  Sultan's 
court,  in  1556.  In  the  October  previous  to  Oc- 
chiali's  descent  on  Villefranche,  the  ambassador 
had  died  on  his  way  home  from  Constantinople, 
leaving  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  his  executrix. 

The  story  of  Margaret's  friendship  with  La  Vigne 
throws  an  interesting  light  on  her  character  and 
reveals  a  new  sphere  of  her  influence  at  her 
brother's  court. 

La  Vigne  was  a  man  of  literary  tastes,   the 

1  Guichenon,  op.  cit.,  p.  679. 

2  See  E.  Charriere,  Negotiations  de  la  France  avec  le  Levant 
(1848),  I,  pp.  609-12,  and  Notes  et  Documents  inedits  pour  servir 
a  la  biographie  de  Jean  de  Monluc,  eveque  de  Valence  (1868),  p.  15. 

224 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy- 
friend  of  Joachim  du  Bellay  and  Jean  de  Morel, 
by  whom  probably  he  was  introduced  to  Margaret. 
He  was  also  a  man  of  high  principle  and  great 
ability,  one  of  the  best  ambassadors  who  ever 
represented  France  at  the  Porte. 

This  post,  which  was  beset  with  dangers  and 
difficulties,  was  by  no  means  an  enviable  one. 
In  the  reign  of  Francis  I,  Rincon,  the  French 
ambassador  to  the  Porte,  had  been  mysteriously 
murdered,  probably  by  Austrian  spies  who  deemed 
it  a  deed  of  holiness  to  assassinate  any  messenger 
to  the  Infidel ;  for  throughout  Europe  the  alliance 
between  the  Most  Christian  King  and  the  Mahom- 
medan  was  regarded  with  horror.  Moreover  the 
Sultan  himself  mistrusted  his  Christian  ally,  know- 
ing full  well  that  the  French  King  was  merely 
using  him  as  a  weapon  against  his  enemy  the 
Emperor,  and  that  whenever  there  was  a  lull  in 
the  duel  between  Hapsburg  and  Valois  the  Turk 
would  be  thrown  over.  Consequently  the  rela- 
tions between  the  Grand  Turk  and  the  French 
ambassador  at  Constantinople  were  somewhat 
strained. 

In  so  arduous  a  position  Margaret's  friendship 
and  advice  were  invaluable  to  La  Vigne.  She 
wrote  to  him  regularly  ;  and  in  her  letters,  which 
have  been  preserved,  we  can  see  how  greatly  she 
encouraged  him  by  her  quick  realisation  of  his 
difficulties,  by  her  keen  appreciation  of  the  ser- 
vices he  was  rendering  to  France—"  Your  presence 

Q  225 


Margaret  of  France 

at  Constantinople  is  as  good  as  an  army,"1  she 
writes — by  praising  her  friend  to  the  King,2  by 
obtaining  for  him  rich  rewards  in  the  shape  of 
lands  and  abbeys,  and  by  shielding  him  from  the 
calumnies  which  his  very  integrity  provoked.3 

Even  Margaret's  support  and  encouragement  did 
not  suffice  to  reconcile  La  Vigne  to  the  difficul- 
ties of  his  post.  More  than  once  he  threatened  to 
resign  and  more  than  once  Margaret  wrote  urging 
him  to  abandon  this  intention.  If  his  royal  friend 
were  no  longer  to  be  at  the  French  court,  La 
Vigne's  position  at  Constantinople  would  become 
unendurable  ;  and  so  a  few  months  after  Mar- 
garet's marriage  he  insisted  on  resigning.  In 
October,  1559,  he  started  for  France  ;  but  he  did 
not  live  to  reach  his  native  land  ;  on  the  20th  of 
October  he  wrote  to  Francis  II  from  Chervissa  ; 
by  the  10th  of  November  he  was  dead. 

Of  his  vast  fortune,  including  a  rich  collection 
of  rare  Oriental  vases,  carpets  and  other  curios, 
as  we  have  seen,  he  left  the  administration  to  the 
Duchess  of  Savoy,  who  was  not,  however,  as 
Brantome  would  have  us  believe,  his  sole  legatee  ; 
for,  in  a  letter  to  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  the 
Duchess  wrote  of  the  ambassador's  two  little 
nieces,  who  were  heiresses  under  his  will.4 

1  Letter  written  on  July  7,  1558,  F.F.  4129,  Fo.  44. 

2  F.F.  4129,  Fo.  41. 

3  Ibid. 

4  Margaret's  Letters  in  La  Revue  Historique,  May- August, 
1 88 1,  pp.  308  and  316. 

226 


Margaret's  Departure  for  Savoy 

As  executrix  Margaret  proved  herself  an  able 
woman  of  affairs.  Her  first  concern  was  to  pro- 
vide friends  for  La  Vigne's  nieces,  whom  their 
uncle's  death  had  "  deprived  of  all  protection."  x 
She  recommended  them  to  Francis  II,2  suggesting 
that  he  should  pay  them  the  balance  of  the  salary 
due  to  La  Vigne.  The  Cardinal  also  she  en- 
treated to  continue  towards  the  two  little  girls 
the  kindness  he  had  always  shown  their  uncle. 
At  the  same  time  she  commended  to  the  Cardinal 
two  of  La  Vigne's  servants. 

Both  the  King  and  the  Cardinal  had  been  re- 
membered by  the  ambassador  in  his  will  j  and 
with  her  letters  Margaret  despatched  to  each  his 
respective  bequest  :  candelabra,  a  vase  and 
Turkish  bows  and  arrows  to  the  King  ;  six  beauti- 
ful Turkey  carpets  and  a  piece  of  Bulgarian  leather 
to  Charles  of  Lorraine. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  308.  2  Ibid.,  pp.  306-7. 


227 


CHAPTER    XIII 

MARRIAGE    AND    MOTHERHOOD 

Margaret's  Illness — -Correspondence  with  Catherine — The  Birth 
of  Charles  Emmanuel — His  Education  and  Upbringing — 
The  Duke's  Illness  and  Margaret's  Government  of  his  Prin- 
cipality— The  Duke  as  a  Husband — Margaret's  magna- 
nimity. 

"  Oblectare  meis  te  versibus  ante  solebas, 
Quam  forti  desponsa  viro  regina  fuisses  : 
Nuptae  alii  placuere  joci  ;   mox  films  omnis 
Maternas  sex  curas  convertit  ad  unum." 

Michel  de  l'Hospital. 

THE  first  year  of  Margaret's  married  life 
was  overclouded  by  sickness.  In  April, 
1560,  her  husband  fell  ill ;  and,  no 
sooner  had  he  recovered  than  Mar- 
garet's own  health  gave  way.  She  had  had  a 
slight  illness  in  the  previous  August.  Indeed  the 
strain  of  the  last  twelve  months  had  been  suffi- 
cient to  break  the  health  of  any  woman. 

What  was  the  precise  nature  of  her  malady  we 
do  not  know.  But  considering  what  she  had  passed 
through  and  that  weakness  seems  to  have  been 
her  chief  symptom,  her  complaint  was  probably 
what  would  now  be  called  a  complete  nervous 

breakdown. 

228 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

At  the  news  of  her  sister-in-law's  illness 
Catherine  became  very  anxious.  She  immedi- 
ately despatched  her  physician,  Dr.  Castellane, 
to  Nice  and  she  asked  the  Duke  to  send  her  a 
weekly  bulletin.  Margaret  had  great  faith  in 
the  French  doctor,  consequently  his  treatment 
of  ass's  milk  and  baths  did  her  good.  Yet  it  was 
May  before  she  was  well  enough  to  be  carried  out 
in  her  chair.1  At  Nice,  in  May,  the  weather  must 
have  been  growing  sultry.  Dr.  Castellane  advised 
change  of  air ;  and  Margaret  longed  for  the 
bracing  heights  of  Switzerland.  Had  it  not  been 
for  her  illness,  she  and  the  Duke  would  have  gone 
to  Vercelli  in  April.  As  it  was,  they  did  not  leave 
Nice  until  the  November  of  this  year. 

One  may  well  imagine  what  were  Margaret's 
feelings  as  she  crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy,  that 
intellectual  home  of  her  race.  The  mal  du  pays, 
which  ever  since  her  departure  from  Blois  had 
oppressed  her,  would  vanish  as  she  entered  into 
the  land  of  the  Great  Revival.  Intense  admirers 
of  Italy  as  were  all  three  Margarets,  to  our  Mar- 
garet alone  was  it  given  to  visit  that  Lily  of  Lands, 
that  "  Fatherland  of  Sensations,"  as  one  of  her 
own  countrymen  was  later  to  call  it.  And  al- 
though Margaret  was  never  permitted  to  enter 
into  those  great  centres  of  the  Italian  Renaissance, 
into   Florence   or   Milan   or   Naples,    which   had 

1  Letters  to  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  and  others  published  in 
La  Revue  Histovique,  nu.  cit. 

229 


Margaret  of  France 

exercised  such  a  fatal  fascination  over  her  ances- 
tors, even  in  Piedmont  she  must  have  come  under 
the  spell  of  Italian  culture.  For  Piedmont  had 
a  Renaissance  of  its  own,  a  school  of  painters  and 
a  school  of  poets,  a  reflection,  though  but  a  faint 
one,  of  the  brighter  glories  of  the  south. 

In  her  husband's  Italian  dominions  Margaret 
was  magnificently  received,  first  at  Valentino  near 
Turin,  and  then  at  Vercelli.  Whilst  Turin  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  French,  Emmanuel 
Philibert  made  Vercelli  his  capital.  It  had  long 
been  a  favourite  residence  of  the  Dukes  of  Savoy. 
There  Charles  III  had  died  in  1553. 1  It  was 
pleasantly  situated  among  fertile  fields  well  watered 
by  the  River  Sesia.  It  was  once  the  centre  of  the 
Piedmontese  school  of  painting.  And  its  dignified 
old  houses,  one  of  which  has  a  yet  beautiful 
frescoed  court-yard  in  the  style  of  Bramante,  still 
remind  one  that  Vercelli  is  a  town  with  a  past. 
And,  threading  its  winding  old  streets,  crossing  its 
picturesque  arcaded  square,  one  may  come  upon 
the  massive  red-brick  castle,  in  which  there  is 
reason  to  believe  Margaret  dwelt  during  her 
residence  at  Vercelli.  The  castle  with  its  four 
fine  towers  now  serves  as  a  prison  and  court  of 
justice.  The  moat,  in  which  blackthorn  trees 
were  blooming  on  the  spring  morning  when  the 
writer  visited  it,  is  now  a  vegetable  and  fruit 

1  Soon  afterwards,  in  that  same  year,  Vercelli  was  taken  by 
the  Marechal  de  Brissac. 

230 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

garden.  But  the  castle  still  stands  on  the  edge 
of  the  town,  overlooking  green  meadows  with 
rows  of  pollarded  willows  ;  and  the  surrounding 
country  has  probably  changed  little  since  Mar- 
garet's day.  By  a  strange  coincidence  the  street 
skirting  one  of  the  castle  walls  bears  the  name 
Margherita,  but  it  is  called  after  the  Queen  Mother 
of  Italy  and  not  after  our  Margaret. 

At  Vercelli  Margaret  and  her  husband  remained 
until  January,  1561.  Ever  since  their  departure 
from  France,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  had  kept 
closely  in  touch  with  the  French  court.  With  the 
Queen  Mother  they  corresponded  regularly ;  and 
Catherine  looked  to  Margaret  and  her  husband 
for  sympathy  and  advice.  When  dangers  began 
to  thicken  round  the  French  monarchy  she 
asked  for  something  more,  and  she  did  not 
ask  in  vain.  In  1562,  as  we  shall  see,  Emmanuel 
Philibert  sent  troops  to  her  aid.  Earlier,  in 
April,  1560,  after  the  Tumult  of  Amboise,  he 
offered  to  lead  a  force  of  seven  or  eight  hundred 
men  to  the  help  of  his  nephew.  About  the  same 
time,  when,  on  the  death  of  Ollivier  de  Lenville, 
Catherine  was  at  a  loss  for  a  Chancellor,  Margaret 
gave  up  her  own  trusty  servant  and  friend, 
Michel  de  l'Hospital,  to  fill  that  post. 

In  her  domestic  interests  as  well  as  in  her 
political  difficulties  Catherine  could  always  count 
on  the  sympathy  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Savoy.     It   was  in  accordance   with  her  sister- 

231 


Margaret  of  France 

in-law's  request  that'  Catherine  sent  her  the 
heights  (les  mesures)  of  those  children  whom 
God  had  left  her,  as  she  put  it.  "  You  will 
see,"  wrote  the  Queen  Mother,  "  that  God  hath 
granted  them  stature  more  in  proportion  to 
their  needs  than  to  their  age  ;  and  the  beards 
of  the  two  eldest  l  make  them  look  five  years 
older  than  they  really  are." 

In  November,  1560,  a  few  days  before  the 
death  of  the  young  King  Francis,  Catherine 
wrote  sorrowfully  to  her  sister-in-law  of  her  son's 
illness.  "  After  all  my  other  sorrows  and  mis- 
fortunes," she  wrote,  "  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord 
to  send  me  great  affliction  and  anxiety  through 
the  condition  of  my  son.  ...  I  know  full  well 
how  you  will  feel  this  piteous  news,  both  because 
of  the  love  you  bear  him  .  .  .  and  because  of  the 
suffering  it  must  cause  me,  loving  him  as  I  do  ; 
but  ever  have  I  found  you  to  honour  me  by 
feeling  my  griefs  as  if  they  were  your  own."  2 

Beset  by  sorrows  and  dangers  Catherine  was 
always  deeply  interested  in  Margaret's  affairs. 
What  the  Queen  most  desired  for  her  sister-in- 
law  was  that  she  should  become  a  mother.  In 
July,  1560,  Catherine  wrote  asking  Emmanuel 
Philibert  whether  he  had  hopes  of  an  heir,  which 

1  Charles  IX  and  the  Dauphin  Henry,  afterwards  Henry  III. 
Francis  II  had  died  before  this  letter  was  written.  Lettres  de 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  ed.  cit.,  III.,  p.  337 '. 

2  Ibid.,  I,  P.J154. 

232 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

was  the  thing  she  (Catherine)  most  desired. 
There  were  many  besides  Catherine  who  greatly 
desired  such  an  event  :  the  French,  who  looked 
to  the  son  of  a  French  princess  for  the  maintenance 
of  French  influence  in  Italy,  and  the  Savoyards 
and  Piedmontese,  who  looked  to  the  son  of  their 
Duke  to  maintain  their  recently  reconquered 
independence  ;  there  may  even  have  been  a  tacit 
understanding  to  the  effect  that  when  the  Duchess 
gave  birth  to  an  heir  the  French  would  with- 
draw their  garrisons  from  Piedmont. 

Nevertheless,  that  Margaret  at  her  age  should 
become  a  mother  seemed  highly  improbable. 
In  days  when  at  fifteen  a  girl  was  most  marriage- 
able, thirty-six  was  advanced  spinsterhood,  and 
there  were  those  who  added  ten  to  Margaret's 
tale  of  years.1 

Consequently,  when  in  May,  1561,  it  was 
hinted  abroad  that  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  was 
expecting  an  heir,  many  thought  Margaret  must 
be  suffering  from  the  same  delusion  which  had 
obsessed  Queen  Mary  of  England.2  Catherine 
however  was  more  sanguine.  In  this  month  of 
May  she  wrote  to  the  Duke  :  "  I  trust  that  what 
I  have  been  told  is  true.  I  pray  to  our  Lord 
that  it  may  be,  and  that  you  now  have  hopes 
of  a  fine  child."  3     The  Queen  speedily  received 

1  Brantdme,  for  example. 

2  Castelnau,  Memoires  (ed.  Le  Laboureur,  1731),  I,  pp.  722, 
750,  805,  806. 

3  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis,  ed.  cit.,  I,  p.  201. 

233 


Margaret  of  France 


confirmation  of  the  rumour  and  replied,  giving 
her  brother-in-law  advice  as  to  the  treatment 
of  his  wife  :  she  is  not  to  move  from  where  she 
is  until  her  seventh  month  ;  1  then  she  must 
be  carried  in  a  chair  and  it  must  not  be  a  long 
journey  ;  she  is  only  to  take  very  gentle  exercise 
and  always  on  level  ground. 

The  fear  that  haunted  Emmanuel  Philibert 
was  that  his  child  might  be  a  girl.  To  resolve 
his  doubts  on  this  subject  he  had  recourse  to 
astrology  and  to  the  most  famous  star-gazer 
of  his  day,  to  none  other  than  Michel  de  Nostre- 
Dame  or  Nostradamus.  To  consult  this  great 
soothsayer  kings  and  princes  journeyed  from 
afar  to  Salon-en-Crau.  The  Duke  himself  in 
the  autumn  of  1559  had  visited  Nostradamus, 
and  so,  a  few  months  later,  as  we  have  seen,2 
had  Margaret  herself. 

The  history  of  this  famous  astrologer  reveals 
how  easily  in  those  days  a  man  of  science  might 
degenerate  into  a  mere  magician.  Born  in  1503, 
at  St.  Remi  in  Provence,  Nostradamus  studied 
medicine  at  Montpellier.  He  practised  with 
great  success  at  Aix  and  then  at  Lyon.  In  the 
latter  city  his  skill  in  combating  a  contagious 
malady  won  him  the  envy  of  his  fellow-prac- 
titioners and  something  like  worship  from  his 
patients.  His  head  was  turned  and  he  soon 
believed   that    he    did    in    reality    possess   those 

1  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis,  ed.  oil.,  I,  p.  202. 

2  See  ante  p.  219. 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

miraculous  powers  which  men  of  the  sixteenth 
century  were  always  ready  to  attribute  to  any 
great  healer.  Nostradamus  began  to  foretell 
the  future  and  to  publish  his  predictions  in 
quatrains,  the  first  collection  of  which,  entitled 
Centuries,  appeared  at  Lyon  in  1555.  Another 
volume  was  dedicated  to  Henry  II  and  Catherine 
de  Medicis  and  presented  to  the  King  and  Queen 
by  the  author.  Nostradamus  was  received  at 
court  with  high  honour  and  employed  to  cast 
the  horoscopes  of  the  royal  children.  These 
he  confided  to  Catherine,  and  she,  while  always 
maintaining  that  they  had  proved  perfectly 
accurate,  ever  refused  to  disclose  them.  Nostra- 
damus died  in  1566.  In  Les  Centuries  of  1555 
the  death  of  Henry  II  and  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew  are  unmistakably  foretold.  Would 
the  belief  that  these  prophecies  were  interpolated 
after  the  events  be  punished  by  eternal  damna- 
tion ?  We,  with  one  of  the  astrologer's  French 
biographers,1  are  inclined  to  risk  it. 

Margaret,  as  we  have  said,  was  no  believer 
in  astrology,  and  in  her  circle  the  prophecies 
of  Nostradamus  were  scoffed  at.  Joachim  du 
Bellay  mocked  him  in  the  following  couplet  : — 

"  Nostra  damus  cum  verba  damus  nam  fallere  nostrum  est 
Et  cum  vestra  damus,  nil  nisi  nostra  damus."  2 

1  Charles  Nisard,  Hist,  des  Livres  Populaives  (1864),  I,  pp. 
22,  24. 

2  "  'Tis  ours  I  give,  when  yours  I  give,  for  cheating  is  my  line, 

And  when  I  give  you  what  is  yours,  I  only  give  you  mine." 
See  Du  Bellay,  CEuvres,  ed.  Marty  Lavaux,  II,  p.  541. 

235 


Margaret  of  France 

It  was  probably  therefore  without  his  wife's 
knowledge  that,  in  1561,  Emmanuel  Philibert 
despatched  his  commander-in-chief,  Philibert 
Mareschal,  Lord  of  Mont  Symon-en-Bresse,  to 
consult  the  astrologer  as  to  the  sex  of  Margaret's 
expected  child.  At  any  rate,  when  the  messenger 
returned  accompanied  by  Nostradamus  himself, 
Margaret  could  only  be  persuaded  to  receive  him 
in  the  capacity  of  physician. 

The  astrologer's  report  was  highly  satisfactory  ; 
he  was  able  to  assure  the  Duke  that  no  such 
calamity  as  the  birth  of  a  daughter  *  would  befall 
him  ;  his  child  would  be  a  boy,  who  should  be 
called  Charles  and  grow  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
captains  of  the  age.  The  fulfilment  in  Margaret's 
lifetime  of  the  first  two  parts  of  this  prophecy 
— perhaps  the  second  was  not  difficult  to  realise 
— must  surely  have  converted  the  Duchess  to  a 
belief  in  astrology. 

For  the  four  or  five  months  preceding  her 
confinement,  Margaret  and  her  husband  resided 
in  the  monastery  of  Bethlehem,  not  far  from 
Vercelli.  But  as  the  event  drew  near,  they 
removed  to  the  palace  of  Rivoli,  where  their 
quarters  were  more  commodious  and  where  the 
air  was  renowned  for  its  purity. 

At    Rivoli,    on    the    12th    of    January,    1562, 

1  When  Isabella  d'Este  gave  birth  to  a  daughter  the  father 
received  condolences  and  the  mother  put  away,  as  being  too  good 
for  a  girl,  the  gilded  cradle  she  had  destined  for  her  son. 

236 


CHARLES   EMMANUEL,  SON   OF  MARGARET  OF  FRANCE,  WITH  HIS  DWARF. 
/■'nun  a  painting  in  the  Pinacoteca  at  Turin 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

Margaret  gave  birth  to  a  son.  It  is  said  that  a 
pious  nun,  Sister  Leona,  in  the  convent  of  the 
Annunciation  at  Vercelli,  prayed  so  ardently 
to  the  Blessed  Amadeus  of  Savoy  for  Margaret's 
happy  deliverance,  that  when  the  time  came  it 
was  granted  to  Sister  Leona  to  suffer  in  Margaret's 
stead.1 

As  soon  as  the  Duke  knew  that  a  son  was  born 
to  him,  he  quitted  his  wife's  chamber,  and  in 
company  with  his  kinsman,  the  Count  of  Pancalieri, 
repaired  to  the  neighbouring  church  of  St.  Dominic, 
where  he  gave  thanks  to  God  and  commanded  a 
Te  Deum  to  be  sung. 

The  birth  of  a  child  to  so  elderly  a  mother 
was  by  many  regarded  as  a  miracle.  Elizabeth 
peperit  et  filius  orationis  est  iste  puer,  exclaimed 
the  Pope,  when  he  heard  of  it.  There  were  those 
who  went  further  and  refused  to  believe  in  the 
birth  of  Margaret's  son.  The  Prince  of  Pied- 
mont shared  the  fate  of  our  Prince  James  and 
was  regarded  by  not  a  few  as  a  suppositious 
child. 

In  order  to  disprove  any  such  aspersions, 
the  wily  Queen  Catherine  had  despatched  from 
France  one  of  her  ladies,  Madame  Dubesc,2 
was  regarded  by  not  a  few  as  a  supposititious 

1  Guichenon,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  708.    Leona  is  the  heroine  of  the 
romance  of  Alexandre  Dumas,  entitled  Le  Page  du  Due  de  Savoie. 

2  Sister  of  the  Marechal  de  Retz.    She  afterwards  married  the 
Count  of  Pancalieri. 

237 


Margaret  of  France 

Madame  Dubesc  came  bearing  rich  gifts  for  the 
infant  prince — for  Catherine  was  too  firm  a 
believer  in  Nostradamus  to  doubt  for  one  moment, 
after  his  prediction,  that  Margaret's  child  would 
be  a  boy.  The  Queen  Mother's  gift  to  her  nephew 
consisted  in  all  the  appointments  for  his  nursery  : 
ewers  and  basins  of  silver  and  every  necessary 
article  of  furniture,  all  most  magnificent  and  in 
white  damask  and  silver,  from  his  bed  and 
canopy  to  the  very  pillow  on  to  which  he  was  to 
be  bound. 

This  handsome  present  was  in  keeping  with 
the  royal  state  which  surrounded  the  baby 
prince  from  the  moment  of  his  birth.  Before 
he  was  a  few  days  old  a  little  court  had  been 
created  for  him.  Its  president  was  the  Lady 
Porporato,  on  whom  devolved  the  important 
function  of  selecting  two  nurses  for  the  Prince, 
one  from  Piedmont  and  the  other  from  Savoy. 
So  apparently  Margaret  did  not  follow  the  advice 
of  her  friend  l'Hospital  and  nurse  her  own  child.1 
Besides  his  nurses  and  his  governess  the  Prince's 
household  included  a  doctor,  an  usher,  two  valets 
of  the  bedchamber,  four  ladies,  one  of  whom  was 
especially  appointed  to  sing  the  Prince  to  sleep, 
and  a  chaplain,  whose  duty  it  was  to  say  mass 
in  the  Prince's  nursery. 

In  order  to  give  time  for  extremely  elaborate 

1  Epistle  to  Jean  de  Morel,  (Euvres,  IV,  p.  218. 

238 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

preparations,  the  child's  baptism  was  postponed 
until  he  was  six  years  old,  until  the  9th  of  March, 
1567.  In  the  Italy  of  those  days  baptism  was  almost 
as  pompous  and  expensive  a  ceremony  as  marriage. 
And  nothing  was  spared  which  could  render  the 
baptism  of  the  Prince  of  Piedmont  one  of  the 
most  imposing  pageants  of  the  time.  In  a  mag- 
nificent triumphal  procession,  winding  its  way 
beneath  arches  and  garlands,  the  little  boy, 
holding  his  governess's  hand,  was  conducted 
from  the  ancient  palace  1  of  Turin  to  the  neigh- 
bouring cathedral.  The  Prince's  godfathers  were 
Pope  Gregory  XIII,  represented  by  Cardinal 
Crivelli,  Charles  IX  of  France,  represented  by 
the  Comte  de  Villars,2  the  Grand  Master  of  Malta, 
who  appeared  in  person,  and  the  state  of  Venice, 
represented  by  its  ambassador,  Sigismond  Cavalli. 
The  Prince's  godmothers  were  Catherine  de 
Medicis  and  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Spain. 

The  sacrament  of  baptism  was  administered 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Turin,  assisted  by  no  less 
than  six  bishops.  The  Prince  received  the  names 
of  Charles,  after  Charles  IX,  and  of  Emmanuel, 
after  his  father.  The  completion  of  the  ceremony 
was  announced  to  the  neighbourhood  by  the 
firing  of  guns  and  by  the  ringing  of  church  bells. 

1  Probably  the  fine  red-brick  building  still  standing  in  the 
centre  of  Turin. 

8  Brother  of  La  Connetable  de  Montmorency  and  a  kinsman 
of  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 

239 


Margaret  of  France 

If  Margaret  had  one  weakness  it  was  her 
idolisation  of  her  child.  Tormented  by  the  thought 
that  her  husband  had  lost  eight  brothers  and 
sisters  in  infancy  or  youth  and  that  she  had  lost 
five,  she  nearly  killed  her  son  with  meticulous 
care  for  his  health.  Despite  this  coddling,  how- 
ever, and  much  to  the  surprise  of  Brantome, 
the  Prince  not  only  survived  but  attained  a 
vigorous  and  healthy  manhood. 

In  the  regulation  of  her  boy's  diet,  Margaret 
anticipated  some  of  the  ideas  of  the  present  day. 
His  food  was  weighed  and  after  every  meal 
he  was  kept  sitting  at  table  for  a  while  in  order 
to  facilitate  digestion.  Fruit  and  sweetmeats 
were  tabooed.  When  the  regulation  quantity 
of  nourishment  had  been  eaten  further  food 
was  refused,  no  matter  how  hungry  the  child 
might  be,  and  frequently  he  was  driven  to  devour 
the  very  crumbs  from  the  table. 

His  exercise  was  regulated  as  strictly  as  his 
diet.  His  early  passion  for  riding  he  was  per- 
mitted to  indulge  only  to  a  very  moderate  extent, 
in  the  gardens  of  the  palace,  for  a  little  while 
morning  and  evening  and  only  when  it  was  very 
fine ;  at  the  slightest  breath  of  wind  or  drop  of 
rain  he  was  hurried  indoors. 

To  the  boy's  father,  who  himself  had  been 
bred  in  the  open,  this  cosseting  must  have  seemed 
absurd.  But  very  wisely  Emmanuel  Philibert 
did  not  interfere  ;  in  childhood  the  Prince  was 

240 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

left  entirely  to  his  mother's  care — indeed  such 
was  the  usual  practice  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
At  the  age  of  ten  he  passed  under  his  father's 
control.  And  then,  despite  the  softness  of  his 
nurture,  he  quickly  took  to  martial  exercises 
and  displayed  in  them  great  agility. 

In  the  training  of  their  son's  mind  Margaret 
and  her  husband  were  in  perfect  accord.  They 
had  him  taught  French  and  Italian  (but  to  use 
French  the  most  frequently),  dancing,  drawing 
and  the  knowledge  of  ancient  medals.  For  his 
instruction  illustrious  professors  were  brought 
from  a  distance  :  Antoine  de  Govea,1  Montaigne's 
friend,  came  from  Bordeaux,  Jacques  Grevin, 
the  doctor  poet,  from  the  Low  Countries,  while 
Alfonso  del  Bene,  son  of  Margaret's  old  friend 
Baccio  del  Bene,  combined  with  the  office  of 
reader  to  the  Duchess  that  of  tutor  to  her 
son. 

Margaret  never  grudged  any  money  spent 
on  her  son's  education.  And  all  her  trouble 
and  expense  were  well  repaid,  for  the  Prince  grew 
in  grace  and  became  a  very  attractive  child,  as 
amiable  as  his  mother  and  as  intelligent  as  both 
his  parents. 

Margaret's  maternal  affection  was  not  permitted 
to  interfere  with  her  wifely  devotion,  as  she 
soon  showed,  when,  in  August,   1563,  the  Duke, 

1  Son  of  Montaigne's  headmaster  at  the  College  of  Bordeaux, 
Andre  de  Govea. 

R  241 


Margaret  of  France 

for  the  third  time  since  his  marriage  fell  seriously 
ill  at  Rivoli.  This  time  his  life  was  despaired  of  ; 
and  panic  spread  throughout  the  state.  Horrified 
at  the  prospect  of  a  minority  which  would  involve 
their  country's  ruin,  the  Duke's  ministers  com- 
pletely lost  their  heads.  Margaret  alone,  in  the 
midst  of  her  terrible  anxiety,  retained  her  habitual 
calm.  She  presided  over  the  Council.  She  ar- 
ranged for  the  future  government  of  the  state  in 
the  event  of  her  husband's  death.  To  quiet 
the  fears  of  his  ministers,  who  trembled  lest  the 
heir  might  be  carried  off  by  France  or  Spain, 
she  parted  with  her  son,  sending  him  to  Turin, 
so  that  the  ministers  might  keep  the  infant  prince 
under  their  own  observation. 

Meanwhile  Margaret  was  tending  her  husband 
day  and  night,  lying  on  a  shake-down  by  his 
bedside,  encouraging  him  by  her  apparent  cheer- 
fulness and  in  his  presence  always  concealing  her 
grief.  A  piteous  letter  written  to  the  Duke  of 
Nemours  when  the  crisis  was  past,  by  its  shaky 
unformed  writing,  very  different  from  Margaret's 
usual  regular  hand,  reveals  the  anxiety  with 
which  she  had  been  overwhelmed.  She  thanks 
Nemours  for  his  kindness  in  sending  to  inquire 
about  her  husband's  health,  and  tells  him  that 
at  the  moment  when  she  most  despaired  of  his 
life,  God  granted  him  improvement.1  The  Duke 
recovered ;    but   his   constant   liability   to   these 

1  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3238,  Fo.  68. 
242 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

attacks  of  illness  must  have  caused  perpetual 
anxiety  to  his  wife  and  to  all  around  him. 

According  to  sixteenth-century  standards,  Mar- 
garet and  Emmanuel  Philibert  were  an  extremely 
united  couple.  Although  throughout  the  fifteen 
years  of  their  married  life  the  Duke  showed  great 
deference  to  his  wife's  opinion,  he  never  became 
the  henpecked  husband  of  whom  he  had  written 
to  Bochet.1  The  man,  who  in  his  youth  had  been 
nicknamed  Brise-fer,  was  not  likely  to  be  domi- 
nated even  by  a  woman  ;  and  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  while,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next 
chapter,  consulting  his  wife  on  most  affairs  of 
state,  never  lost  his  indomitable  individuality. 

In  the  early  days  of  their  marriage  the  Duke 
was  more  than  the  comrade  husband,  he  was 
the  devout  lover.  Then,  for  love  of  Margaret, 
he  used  to  wear  a  cross  of  gold  and  pearls,  sur- 
mounted by  the  ducal  coronet  and  inscribed  with 
the  motto  Quis  dicer et  laudes?  (who  may  praise 
her  worthily  ?).  Wrote  the  Venetian  ambassador  : 
"  The  Duke  is  either  the  most  amorous  of  hus- 
bands or  an  inimitable  actor." 

But  in  his  bachelor  days  Emmanuel  Philibert 
had  been  a  famous  gallant  ;  2  and  Margaret 
must  have  appealed  to  him  as  a  cultured  woman 

1  See  ante,  p.  181. 

2  II  n'a  est6  blasme  d'autre  chose  que  du  vice,  auquel  les  plus 
grands  hommes  ont  este  sujets,  qui  est  V amour  des  femmes.  Guiche- 
non,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  699. 

243 


Margaret  of  France 

of  the  world,  as  intelligent  and  lively,  winning 
and  graceful,  but  not  as  beautiful.  One  of  her 
greatest  attractions  was  her  musical  voice.  Her 
features  were  somewhat  heavy,  her  countenance 
pleasing  but  homely.1  She  was  too  thin  to  be 
beautiful,  said  the  Venetian  ambassador.  Women 
aged  rapidly  in  those  days  of  storm  and  stress ; 
and,  at  thirty-six,  the  charms  of  Margaret's  youth, 
the  gleam  on  her  golden  hair,  the  brightness  of 
her  soft  brown  eyes,  the  delicate  flush  on  her  fair 
skin,  had  already  faded.  Moreover  she  was  four 
years  older  than  her  husband ;  and  her  illness  in 
1560  must  have  still  further  aged  her.  It  was 
probably  soon  after  this  illness  that  she  ceased  to 
monopolise  her  husband's  affection. 

After  her  experience  at  the  courts  of  her 
father  and  brother,  constancy  can  hardly  have 
been  one  of  the  virtues  Margaret  expected  from 
a  husband.  Nevertheless,  and  not  unnaturally, 
she  grieved  over  the  Duke's  wanderings.  And, 
notwithstanding  her  proud  disposition,  her  grief 
let  itself  be  seen  so  that  the  ever  observant 
Venetian  ambassador  perceived  her  to  be 
jealous. 

Nevertheless  her  jealousy  did  not  stifle  the 
kindness  of  her  heart.     In  those  days  most  wives 

1  Elle  avoit  moult  grace  et  misericorde,  des  cheveux  blonds, 
couleur  d'epis  doves,  des  yenx  chdtains,  le  nez  un  par  fort,  les 
levres  grosses,  la  voix  doulce,  la  pean  d'un  beau  blanc  de  lait  teintS 
de  rose.    Saint-Genis,  Hist,  de  Savoie,  II,  p.  143. 

244 


Marriage  and  Motherhood 

were  wonderfully  magnanimous,1  and  Margaret 
was  but  following  a  common  practice  when,  on 
hearing  that  one  of  her  husband's  natural  children 
was  being  brought  up  in  a  neighbouring  village, 
she  received  him  into  her  palace  and  cared  for 
him  as  if  he  had  been  her  own  son. 

1  Boulting,  Women  in  Italy,  p.  176. 


245 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    HIGHER    POLITICS 

Margaret's  difficulties  as  Duchess  of  Savoy — The  Question  of  the 
French  Fortresses  in  Piedmont — The  French  retire  from  four 
fortresses — Entrance  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  into  their 
capital. 

"  L'Europe  avait  les  yeux  sur  elle." — L'Hospital. 

THREE  hundred  years  ago  the  Spaniards 
had  a  proverb,  "  there  is  but  one  king, 
one  duke  and  one  count."  The  king- 
dom of  course  was  Spain,  the  county 
was  Orange,  and  the  dukedom  was  Savoy.  The 
political  importance  of  Savoy  in  the  sixteenth 
century  was  largely  the  work  of  Emmanuel 
Philibert  and  of  Margaret. 

Ronsard  did  Margaret  an  injustice  when,  in 
a  curiously  mixed  metaphor,  he  represented 
her  with  placid  brow  and  unfiushed  cheek, 
in  calm  unconcern,  observing  Europe  brought 
as  low  as  the  grave  and  threatened  with  ship- 
wreck by  Henry  and  Philip.1 

Margaret  adored  books,  but,  as  her  govern- 
ment of  Berry  showed,  she  was  no  mere  book- 

1  Sonnet,  A  Madame  Marguerite  Duchesse  de  Savoie,  CEuvres, 
V,  pp.  316-17. 

246 


The  Higher  Politics 

worm  ;  state  affairs  interested  her  deeply  ;  and, 
according  to  the  Venetian  ambassador,  she  could 
talk  well  on  such  matters.  Moreover,  as  the 
following  pages  will  show,  Emmanuel  Philibert 
had  great  confidence  in  his  wife's  political  ability. 
During  his  absences  abroad  he  appointed  her 
regent,1  and  in  certain  important  crises  he  per- 
mitted his  policy  to  be  moulded  by  her  wisdom. 

Indeed  the  political  situation  of  Savoy  and 
Piedmont  in  the  years  immediately  following 
Cateau-Cambresis  required  all  the  cleverness  of 
Margaret  and  of  her  husband. 

Margaret's  position  was  especially  difficult. 
She  had  married  a  prince  who  from  his  youth 
upward  had  been  her  country's  foe.  She  had 
come  to  live  among  a  people,  whom  for  thirty 
years  her  father  and  brother  had  governed  as 
a  conquered  race  and  whose  liberties  her  nephew 
was  still  menacing  through  French  garrisons 
entrenched  in  five  Piedmontese  towns.  There 
seemed  every  reason  therefore  why  Savoyards 
and  Piedmontese  should  mistrust  and  dislike 
her.  Margaret  in  Savoy  might  well  have  become 
as  unpopular  as  her  aunt,  the  Duchess  Renee, 
had  been  at  the  court  of  Ferrara  or  as  Marie 
Antoinette  was  to  be  at  the  court  of  Versailles. 
But   Margaret   possessed   a  breadth   of   view  of 

1  Archivio  di  Stato,  Turin.  Inventaro  delle  Scritture  Riguar- 
danti  Le  Tutele  Regenze  e  Luogo  tenenze  Generali,  5th  June,  1561  ; 
nth  May,  1566;    8th  September,  1568. 

247 


Margaret  of  France 

which  her  Aunt  Renee  was  incapable,  while 
the  common  sense  and  political  experience  of 
the  Duchess  of  Savoy  saved  her  from  the  in- 
discretions of  Louis  XVTs  Austrian  bride. 

Margaret,  in  the  words  of  one  historian,  sub- 
dued all  hearts;  she  won  her  subjects'  love  so 
absolutely  that  at  her  death  they  spoke  of  her 
as  "  the  mother  of  her  people."  To  know  the 
history  of  Savoy  in  the  sixteenth  century  is  to 
appreciate  the  greatness  of  this  achievement. 

The  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  as  we  have 
seen,  restored  the  son  of  Charles  III,  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  to  his  father's  dominions.  But  in  the 
heart  of  his  territory  it  left  an  apple  of  discord 
in  the  shape  of  seven  foreign  garrisons,  five  French 
and  two  Spanish,  entrenched  in  seven  Piedmontese 
fortresses,  one  of  them  being  the  capital  itself, 
Turin,  which  was  occupied  by  the  French. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  newly  restored 
Duke  should  have  determined  to  send  these 
foreigners  packing  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 
And  in  this  resolve  he  was  supported  by  his  wife. 
French  as  she  was,  the  Duchess  threw  herself 
entirely  on  to  her  husband's  side  in  this  matter. 
And  in  her  determination  to  oust  her  countrymen 
from  the  five  towns  and  to  unify  Piedmont,  she 
even  quarrelled  with  her  old  friend,  the  Marechal 
de  Brissac,  who  as  governor  of  Piedmont  had  to 
carry  out  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis  in  that 
province. 

248 


The  Higher  Politics 

It  was  hard  for  Brissac  to  dismantle  and  then 
to  surrender  the  fortresses,  to  the  conquest  and 
defence  of  which  he  had  devoted  the  best  years 
of  his  life.  It  was  hard  for  Emmanuel  Philibert 
to  wait  to  return  to  his  own  until  his  fortresses 
had  been  rendered  indefensible.  And  so  Brissac 
and  the  Duke,  who  had  once  been  friends,  became 
enemies.  And  Margaret  not  unnaturally  took 
her  husband's  side  in  the  quarrel.  "  They  hated 
him  like  death," *  wrote  Brissac's  secretary  of 
the  Duke  and  Duchess,  while  he  for  his  part 
considered  the  Duke  as  the  worst  enemy  of  France. 
So,  throughout  the  summer  and  winter  of  1559 
and  1560,  the  Duke  and  the  Marshal  waged  an 
incessant  war  of  recriminations ;  and  Margaret 
was  their  umpire.  The  Duke  entreated  his 
bride  to  hurry  Brissac,  Brissac  entreated  his  old 
friend  to  convince  her  husband  that  he  was 
proceeding  with  all  possible  speed. 

Apart  from  their  impatience  for  the  restitution 
of  the  fortresses,  the  policy  of  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  was  very  exasperating  to  Brissac.  Well 
aware  that  Piedmont  could  never  be  really 
prosperous  as  long  as  foreign  garrisons  remained 
entrenched  there,  Margaret  and  Emmanuel  Phili- 
bert set  about  worrying  the  French  out  of  the 
principality.      They    persuaded    Francis    II    to 

1  Ce  prince  et  Madame,  qui  luy  en  vouloient  mat  de  mort.  Du 
Villars  (Brissac's  secretary),  Memoires  (ed.  Michaud  et  Poujoulat), 
v*™  serie,  Vol.  X,  p.  352. 

249 


Margaret  of  France 

deprive  his  five  towns  of  the  outlying  territory 
which  should  naturally  have  belonged  to  them. 
The  French  towns  were  permitted  to  retain  no  land 
outside  the  radius  of  one  mile  from  the  forti- 
fications ;  and  so  rigorous  were  the  Duke's  agents 
in  observing  this  limit  that  they  did  not  hesitate 
to  cut  up  a  farm  or  to  divide  a  garden.  Further, 
the  Duke  exacted  heavy  tolls  on  all  victuals 
taken  into  the  five  towns  and  forbade  any  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  the  towns  them- 
selves. One  cannot  help  sympathising  with 
Brissac  when  he  urged  that  such  a  policy  would 
end  in  the  complete  depopulation  of  the  French 
territory. 

The  Marshal  seized  the  opportunity  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  at  Nice  in  Janu- 
ary, 1560,  to  despatch  to  them  an  ambassador, 
who  was  charged  to  ask  for  the  abolition  of  these 
duties.  He  obtained  fair  promises,  which  how- 
ever came  to  nothing,  and  the  exactions  con- 
tinued to  be  as  heavy  as  before.  Finally,  after 
having  repeatedly  sent  in  his  resignation,  Brissac 
obtained  his  recall  in  April,  1560. 

While  appreciating  the  desire  of  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  to  unify  their  territory,  one  cannot 
help  being  sorry  for  Brissac.  He  had  served 
his  country  loyally  and  well.  But  his  country 
had  never  given  him  whole-hearted  support,  and 
had  kept  him  so  short  of  funds  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  use  his  daughter's  dowry  for  the  payment 

250 


The  Higher  Politics 

of  his  discharged  soldiers.  Perhaps  it  was  best 
that  Brissac  had  returned  to  France  before 
Margaret  entered  Piedmont.  She  never  saw 
her  old  friend  again.  After  rendering  good 
service  to  the  Catholic  cause  in  the  Wars  of 
Religion,  Brissac  died  of  gout  in  1563. 

As  governor  of  Piedmont,  Brissac  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Imbert  de  la  Platiere,  Seigneur  de 
Bordillon,  who  had  to  contend  with  the  same 
difficulties  as  his  predecessor.  Bordillon's  in- 
structions were  to  keep  peace  at  all  costs  and  to 
submit  difficult  cases  to  Margaret.  But  at  that 
time  Margaret  was  ill  and  unable  to  deal  with 
such  contentions.  When  the  usual  complaints 
reached  her  from  the  merchants  of  the  five  towns, 
she  forwarded  them  to  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine, 
with  something  of  an  invalid's  peevishness, 
requesting  him  to  arrange  this  dispute  1  so 
that,  when  she  recovers  from  her  illness  and 
goes  into  Piedmont,  she  may  dwell  there  in 
peace. 

Before  the  end  of  1560,  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
attempted  to  open  negotiations  with  France 
for  the  immediate  evacuation  of  the  five  towns. 
But  the  Oueen  Mother  refused  to  consider  the 
matter  until  her  son,  the  King,  should  come  of 
age.  According  to  the  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis  the  towns  were  to  remain  with  the  French 

1  Toutes  ces  crieryes.  Margaret's  letters  published  in  La  Revue 
Historique,  vol.  cit.,  p.  317. 

251 


Margaret  of  France 

until  the  settlement  of  the  rival  claims  of  France 
and  Savoy  to  the  lands  of  Bugey,  Bresse  and 
Saluzzo.  To  consider  these  claims  a  council  was 
held  at  Lyon  in  September,  1561,  and  attended 
by  the  ambassadors  of  Charles  IX,  King  of  France 
and  of  Emmanuel  Philibert.  But  nothing  was 
decided.  In  the  following  year  however  two 
events  happened  which  changed  the  opinion  of 
the  French  Council  :  first,  with  regard  to  the 
fortresses  held  by  France  in  Piedmont,  in  January, 
Margaret's  son  was  born,  and  the  French  had 
ground  for  hope  that  the  son  of  a  Valois  princess 
would  continue  French  influence  in  Italy  ;  second, 
in  that  year  civil  war  broke  out  in  France,  and 
the  Queen  Mother  became  desirous  to  borrow 
troops  from  Emmanuel  Philibert  ;  and,  as  the 
price  of  his  aid  she  became  willing  to  cede  to 
him  certain  of  the  five  towns.  It  was  Catherine 
herself  who  now  reopened  the  negotiations.  In 
January,  1562,  she  wrote  to  Margaret  entreating 
her  to  accept  the  conditions  offered  by  the  bearer 
of  her  letter,  who  came  with  the  authority  not 
only  of  Catherine,  but  of  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine, 
Michel  de  l'Hospital  and  the  Marechal  de  Brissac.1 
Probably  these  conditions  were  accepted,  for 
in  April  and  May  Catherine's  letters  are  full 
of  gratitude  to  the  Duke  and  Duchess,  doubtless 
for  the  help  they  had  promised.  And  in  July 
she  wrote  to  M.  de  Bordillon  that  with  the  advice 

1  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis,  ed.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  263. 

252 


The  Higher  Politics 

of  the  King's  Council,  she  had  consented  to 
surrender  to  the  Duke  the  four  towns  of  Turin, 
Villanuova  d'Asti,  Chieri,  and  Chivasso,  taking 
instead  the  less  important  towns  of  Perosa  and 
Savigliano.1  At  the  same  time  the  Queen  Mother 
instructed  Bordillon  to  persuade  the  Duke  to 
despatch  with  all  possible  speed  the  promised 
force  of  three  thousand  foot  and  two  hundred 
horse,  adding  that  if  Emmanuel  Philibert  would 
give  them  one  month's  pay  in  advance  he  would 
be  doing  Catherine  a  great  favour  and  might 
count  on  being  shortly  repaid.2 

Any  cession  of  French  territory  in  Piedmont 
was  as  displeasing  to  Bordillon  as  it  had  been 
to  his  predecessor.  The  governor  forwarded 
lengthy  and  frequent  remonstrances  to  France, 
and  put  all  manner  of  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
the  restitution.  Finally,  however,  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine  and  Morvilliers,  Bishop  of  Orleans, 
who  were  on  their  way  to  the  Council  of  Trent, 
were  appointed  to  supersede  the  reluctant  Bor- 
dillon in  this  matter.  When  Morvilliers  and  the 
Cardinal  arrived  in  Piedmont  they  found  the 
proposed  settlement  extremely  unpopular  with 
the  French  in  the  principality  and  Bordillon 
demanding  his  recall.  The  Cardinal,  however, 
would   brook  no   delay.      He   had  been   present 

1  Pinerolo,  the  fifth  of  the  French  towns,  did  not  change 
hands  at  this  time. 

2  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis,  ed.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  359. 

253 


Margaret  of  France 

at  the  Royal  Council  which  had  unanimously 
decided  on  the  restitution  and  the  four  towns 
must  be  handed  over  to  the  Duke  immediately. 
Before  the  end  of  the  month  Morvilliers  and 
the  Cardinal  joined  the  court  of  Piedmont  at 
Fossano,  where  the  treaty  delivering  to  the  Duke 
his  capital  Turin,  with  the  towns  of  Chieri, 
Villanuova  d'Asti  and  Chivasso,  was  signed  on 
the  2nd  of  November.  On  the  5th  of  November, 
Margaret  wrote  gratefully  to  Catherine  *  saying 
that  everything  was  almost  settled,  and  that  it 
was  owing  largely  to  the  visit  of  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine.  But  in  this  matter,  as  in  other 
good  things  that  befell  her,  Margaret  did  not 
fail  to  trace  the  hand  of  her  bon  pere,  the  Con- 
stable, to  whom,  on  the  5th  of  November,  she 
dictated  a  letter  of  thanks,  adding  the  following 
postscript  in  her  own  handwriting  : 

"  I  must  tell  you,  father,  how  greatly  pleased 
I  have  been  by  the  visit  of  Monseigneur  le  Cardinal 
de  Lorraine,  both  on  account  of  the  joy  of  seeing 
him  and  because  of  his  excellent  arrangement  of 
our  affairs."  2 

During  the  first  three  years  of  his  reign  Em- 
manuel Philibert  had  fixed  his  capital  at  Vercelli, 

1  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Midicis,  ed.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  431. 

2  II  fault  que  je  vous  die,  mon  pere,  que  la  venue  de  mon- 
seigneur le  Cardinal  de  Lorreinne  m'a  donne  beaucoup  de  plaisyr 
pour  l'heur  que  ce  m'a  este  de  la  voyr  et  pour  le  bon  chemin 
auquel  il  a  mys  nos  affaires.  .  .  .  Fonds  frangais  3410,  Fo.  34. 

254 


The  Higher  Politics 

which,  by  the  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis, 
had  been  left  to  Spain ;  but,  in  response  to 
Margaret's  request,  Philip  II  x  had  consented  to 
take  Santhia  in  its  place.  Now  at  length  the 
Duke  was  able  to  enter  the  capital  from  which 
he  had  so  long  been  excluded.  Turin  was  sur- 
rendered to  him  on  the  12th  of  December,  1562  ; 
and  on  the  14th  he  made  his  state  entry  into  the 
city.  Margaret  followed  her  husband  a  few  days 
later. 

Turin  received  its  Duchess  with  great  magnifi- 
cence. Beneath  a  golden  canopy,  she  rode  by  her 
husband's  side,  down  gaily  decorated  streets, 
beneath  triumphal  arches,  followed  by  the  papal 
nuncio  and  the  other  ambassadors. 

The  surrender  of  the  four  towns  was  universally 
regarded  as  due  to  Margaret's  diplomacy.  It  was 
her  wisdom  that  had  taken  the  fortresses,  writes 
Le  Laboureur  ;  2  the  King's  commissioners  could 
not  hold  them  against  her  way  of  raising  an 
innocent  revolt  in  their  hearts  and  forcing  the 
most  impenetrable  places. 

But  Piedmont  was  not  yet  rid  of  the  foreigner  ; 
Pinerolo  still  remained  in  French  hands,  and  Savig- 
liano  and  Perosa,  two  comparatively  unimportant 
fortresses,  had  been  surrendered  to  them  in  ex- 
change   for    Turin    and    the    other    towns ;    the 

1  Autograph  letter  from  Margaret  to  Philip  in  Les  Archives 
Nationales  at  Paris,  K.  1492,  Lettre  40,  dated  De  Paris,  17  Mai. 

2  Additions  aux  Memoir es  de  Castelnau,  I,  721. 

255 


Margaret  of  France 

Spaniards  continued  to  hold  Santhia  and  Asti. 
It  was  not  until  a  few  days  before  her  death 
that  Margaret  induced  her  countrymen  to  com- 
pletely evacuate  her  adopted  land.  The  departure 
of  the  Spaniards  she  did  not  live  to  see.  Santhia 
and  Asti  were  not  evacuated  until  the  first  anni- 
versary of  her  death.  Not  until  September,  1575, 
could  Emmanuel  Philibert  announce  that  at 
length  he  possessed  the  keys  to  his  principality. 


256 


CHAPTER  XV 

MARGARET   AND   THE    PROTESTANTS 

Margaret's  Religion — Was  she  a  Protestant  ? — Her  Protection  of 
the  Waldenses — The  Treaty  of  Lausanne — Her  Intervention 
in  the  French  Wars  of  Religion — She  visits  the  court  at  Lyon — 
The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

.  .  .  and  they  that  overween, 
And  at  thy  growing  vertues  fret  their  spleen, 
No  anger  find  in  thee,  but  pity  and  ruth." 

Milton. 

WAS  Margaret  a  Protestant  ?  In  answer- 
ing this  question  historians  disagree.1 
But  it  is  quite  clear  that  among 
many  of  her  contemporaries  she 
passed  for  a  Protestant.2  Anne  de  Montmorency, 
when  dining  with  the  Duke  of  Alva,  in  1564, 
regretted  "  the  heresy  of  the  three  duchesses, 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  (Jeanne  d'Albret),  Madame 
de  Savoie  and  Madame  de  Ferrare  (Renee  of 
France). 3  The  Pope  suspected  Margaret  of 
heresy  and  asked  in  vain  for  the  dismissal  of 
Huguenots  from   her   household.     To   Brantome 

1  Haag,  La  France  Protestante,  Vol.  VII,  under  Marguerite 
d'Orleans  ;  Castelnau,  Memoires  (ed.  1731),  Vol.  I,  p.  720; 
Dupre  Lasale,  Michel  de  VHospital  avant  son  Elevation  au  poste 
de  chancelier,  I,  pp.  152  et  seq.;  Rodocanachi,  Renee  de  France, 

P-  399- 

2  De  Crue,  Le  Parti  des  Politiques,  p.  242. 

8  De  Crue,  Anne  de  Montmorency,  Vol.  II,  p.  431. 

s  257 


Margaret  of  France 

her  friendship  with  Coligny  seemed  suspicious. 
Philip  II  of  Spain  bade  Emmanuel  Philibert 
look  to  his  wife's  orthodoxy.  The  Venetian 
ambassador  at  Turin,  in  his  despatches  to 
the  Doge  and  Senate,  discussed  the  question 
of  Margaret's  heresy,  stating  in  support  of  the 
charge  that  her  house  was  full  of  Huguenots, 
that  she  was  constantly  reading  the  Bible,  and 
that  she  ate  meat  every  day  of  the  year;  but 
as  against  it,  that  the  Pope  had  dispensed  her 
from  fasting  because  fish  disagreed  with  her, 
that  she  went  regularly  to  mass  and  to  com- 
munion, and  that  nothing  in  her  conversation 
savoured  of  heresy.  Wherefore  he  concluded 
her  faith  to  be  that  of  the  Catholic  Apostolic 
and  Roman  Church. 

The  Duchess  of  Savoy's  religious  opinions 
were  probably  as  elusive  as  those  of  her  aunt ; 
but  our  Margaret  had  probably  more  philosophy 
and  less  mysticism  than  the  Queen  of  Navarre. 
They  both  died  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church. 
They  were  both  aware  that  they  were  suspected 
of  heresy.  In  a  letter  to  Madeleine  de  Mont- 
morency, wife  of  the  Constable,  our  Margaret 
wrote  :  "  Believe  me,  ma  commere,  I  am  no 
Huguenot,  and  therefore,  I  beseech  you  keep 
me  in  your  good  grace."  *     Though  the  letter 

1  Ma  commire.  .  .  .  Je  vons  asseure  que  je  ne  suis  point  hu- 
guenote,  et  estant  insi,  je  voiis  supplier  a  de  me  tenir  an  vos  bonne 
grace.  .  .  .  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3205,  Fo.  70. 

258 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

was  probably  written  about  1550,  we  have  no 
reason  to  believe  that  Margaret  ever  changed 
her  mind  on  this  point. 

From  her  Aunt  Margaret  the  Duchess  of 
Savoy  had  in  early  years  acquired  a  love  of 
religious  liberty  ;  and  throughout  her  life,  with 
varying  success,  she  made  every  effort  to  stem 
the  rising  tide  of  religious  persecution. 

It  was  at  her  request  that  immediately  after 
their  marriage  Emmanuel  Philibert  sued  for 
the  pardon  of  Councillor  Anne  du  Bourg,1  who, 
at  the  time  of  Henry  II's  death,  was  lying  in 
the  prison  of  the  Bastille  awaiting  his  trial  for 
heresy.  But  the  Duke  of  Savoy's  efforts  availed 
not,  and  Du  Bourg  was  executed  on  the  23rd  of 
December,  1559. 

In  Savoy  and  Piedmont  better  success  was 
ultimately  to  attend  Margaret's  intercession  on 
behalf  of  the  persecuted.  And  in  her  new  do- 
minions she  was  to  be  blessed  as  the  apostle  of 
religious  toleration. 

For  centuries  there  had  existed  in  the  moun- 
tain valleys  of  Piedmont,  in  Perosa,  Angrogna, 
Luzerna  and  San  Martino,  an  ancient  Christian 
sect,  the  Waldenses  or  Vaudois,  in  whose  cause 
a  century  later  Cromwell  was  to  threaten  war 
and  Milton  to  write  the  grandest  of  his  sonnets. 

Founded  by  Claudius  of  Turin  in  the  ninth 
century,   with  the  object  of  restoring  primitive 

1  Cal.  St.  Papers,  Foreign,  1559-60,  p.  364. 
259 


Margaret  of  France 

Christianity,  the  sect  had  suffered  persecution 
throughout  the  Middle  Age.  But  despite  their 
sufferings  they  persisted  in  their  faith.  En- 
trenched in  narrow  mountain  gorges,  protected 
by  rock  fortresses,  it  was,  to  use  the  words  of 
an  English  Puritan  *  of  later  date,  "  as  if  the  all- 
wise  creatour  had  from  the  beginning  designed 
that  place  as  a  cabinet,  wherein  to  place  some 
inestimable  jewel,  or  (to  speak  more  plainly) 
there  to  reserve  many  thousands  of  souls,  which 
should  not  bow  the  knee  before  Baal." 

The  persistence  of  the  Waldensian  faith  down 
the  ages  is  all  the  more  remarkable  in  that  its 
votaries  were  completely  isolated  from  other 
bodies  of  reformers.  Not  until  the  sixteenth 
century  did  they  begin  to  enter  into  relations 
with  other  dissenters  from  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Then  the  great  wave  of  the  Reformation  sweeping 
through  Europe  penetrated  even  into  the  remote 
valleys  of  Piedmont.  And  the  Waldenses  found 
that  with  the  Reformers  they  had  much  in 
common.  While  rejecting  the  Reformers'  belief 
in  predestination,  the  Piedmontese  peasants  agreed 
with  their  brethren  of  Northern  Europe  in  regard- 
ing the  Bible  rather  than  the  Church  as  the  supreme 
arbiter  of  belief.     Indeed  not  even  the  English 

1  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  appointed  by  Cromwell's  Government 
to  distribute  the  £40,000  collected  in  England  for  the  relief 
of  the  persecuted  Piedmontese.  See  Morland's  History  of  the 
Evangelical  Churches  of  the  Valleys  of  Piedmont  (1658). 

260 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

Puritans  of  the  next  century  could  vie  with 
the  Waldenses  in  their  idolisation  of  Holy  Writ. 
Never  were  the  relics  of  Catholic  saint  more 
profoundly  venerated  than  the  manuscripts  of 
certain  passages  of  Scripture  which,  translated 
into  the  Romance  tongue,  were  cherished  as  price- 
less treasures  and  handed  down  from  generation 
to  generation. 

In  their  mistrust  of  priesthood  too  the  Wal- 
denses agreed  with  the  majority  of  the  Reformers. 
The  Waldensian  ministers,  rejecting  all  sacerdotal 
claims,  lived  in  the  strictest  apostolic  simplicity. 
After  two  years'  preparation  for  a  celibate  and 
ascetic  life,  having  committed  to  memory  those 
translated  portions  of  the  Bible  to  which  we 
have  referred,  the  pastors  entered  on  a  nomadic 
career,  wandering  in  couples  through  the  Alpine 
valleys  and  ministering  to  the  spiritual  needs  of 
their  flock. 

In  1530,  two  of  these  pastors  were  sent  on  a 
deputation  to  the  Reformers  of  Switzerland. 
And,  as  a  result  of  their  mission,  Guillaume  Farel, 
Calvin's  predecessor  at  Geneva,  visited  the  Wal- 
densian valleys.  On  the  plain  of  Angrogna 
he  addressed  a  large  assembly  of  the  faithful. 
At  Angrogna  a  confession  of  faith  was  drawn 
up.  And  there  these  Alpine  shepherds  under- 
took from  their  slender  substance  to  contribute 
no  less  than  five  hundred  gold  crowns  towards  the 
printing  of  a  French  translation  of  the  Scriptures. 

261 


Margaret  of  France 


The  affiliation  of  the  Waldensian  sect  with  the 
Reformation  involved  its  members  in  renewed 
persecution.  As  the  result  of  an  edict  passed 
by  the  Parliament  of  Aix,  in  1545,  a  terrible 
war  of  extermination  began  ;  and  in  two  months 
twenty-two  villages  were  burned  and  three  thou- 
sand men,  women  and  children  perished. 

Nevertheless  the  faith  of  the  survivors  re- 
mained unshaken.  And  when  they  heard  of  the 
marriage  of  their  Duke  Emmanuel  Philibert  with 
Margaret,  the  friend  of  the  Huguenots,  they  were 
filled  with  hope.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Duchess 
at  Nice,  they  despatched  a  deputation  to  her.  And 
Margaret's  heart,  as  she  wrote  later,  was  touched 
"  by  pity  for  the  sad  fate  of  these  miserable 
people,"1  whose  simple  faith  could  not  fail  to  appeal 
to  her.  All  they  asked  was  the  recognition  of 
three  rights  due  to  every  Christian  :  the  right  of 
every  man  to  worship  according  to  his  conscience, 
to  read  the  Bible  in  his  own  tongue,  and  to  ap- 
proach God  without  the  mediation  of  any  priest. 

For  the  granting  of  this  freedom  so  ardently 
desired  and  so  highly  deserved  the  Duchess 
pleaded  hard  with  her  husband.2  Emmanuel 
Philibert  was  no  tyrannical  bigot.    He  had  always 

1  La  pitie  que  fay  de  leur  miserable  fortune.  Letter  to  the 
Seigneur  de  Racconigi.  See  Saint-Genis,  Histoire  de  Savoie,  Vol. 
Ill,  preuves,  p.  485. 

2  Ce  paovre  peuple  vaudoys  pour  le  Men  et  soulaigement  desquels 
me  suys  vohmtiers  employee  envers  son  Altesse.    Ibid. 

262 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

disliked  religious  persecution.  In  1558,  while  still 
an  exile  from  his  dominions,  he  had  written  to 
the  Bishop  of  Aosta  : 

"  Persecution  never  did  anything  save  create 
martyrs  ;  it  is  absurd  to  publicly  execute  fanatics 
whose  death  sows  heresy  ;  you  must  get  rid  of  them 
secretly  or  better  still  you  must  be  merciful."  1 

But  now  that  the  Duke  had  returned  to  his 
principality,  now  that  he  found  Protestantism 
rapidly  spreading  in  Piedmont,  his  views  under- 
went a  change.  Now  to  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
as  to  most  sixteenth-century  rulers,  to  permit 
two  religions  to  exist  side  by  side  in  one  state 
appeared  contrary  to  all  good  government.  More- 
over the  Duke  with  much  less  philosophy  in  his 
religious  views  than  Margaret  was  a  very  devout 
Catholic,  regarded  by  the  Pope  as  one  of  his 
most  stalwart  defenders  of  the  faith.  As  we  have 
seen,2  he  sent  troops  to  fight  on  the  Catholic  side 
in  the  French  wars  of  religion.  And,  on  hearing 
that  his  kinsman,  the  Comte  de  Tende,  was 
suspected  of  heresy,  he  wrote  him  the  following 
letter  : 

"  Monsieur,  my  cousin,  I  am  greatly  amazed 
at  the  rumour  which  is  current  on  all  hands  of 
your  having  adhered  to  the  condemned  sect  (la 
secte  reprouvee).     It  is  a  matter  which  I  cannot 

1  Saint-Genis,  op.  tit.,  Ill,  p.  479. 

2  Ante  pp.  231  and  253. 

263 


Margaret  of  France 

believe ;  for  in  the  past  I  knew  you  to  be  a  zealous 
son  of  the  Catholic  Church.  So  great  is  my  dis- 
pleasure to  hear  the  world  hold  such  an  opinion 
of  one  of  my  blood  that  I  shall  have  no  peace 
until  I  hear  from  you  touching  this  matter. 

"  If  your  intention  be  such  as  I  hope,  then 
your  announcement  will  give  me  the  greatest 
pleasure.  But  if  any  persons  in  their  wickedness 
should  have  turned  you  from  the  right  way, 
then  as  your  good  kinsman  I  entreat  and  beseech 
you  to  return  and  by  so  doing  you  will  win  a 
larger  share  of  my  affection.  Praying  God  to 
have  you  in  his  holy  keeping,  from  Savillano,  this 
4th  day  of  June,  1562. 

"  The  Duke  of  Savoy, 

"  Emmanuel  Philibert."  x 

Nevertheless,  despite  his  ardour  for  the  Catholic 
faith,  the  Duke  was  reluctant  to  embark  on  a 
career  of  religious  persecution,  and  perhaps  still 
more  reluctant  to  refuse  his  wife's  request.  So, 
to  avoid  the  responsibility  of  a  decision,  like 
a  good  son  of  Mother  Church,  he  decided  to  refer 
the  question  to  the  Pope.  Margaret  must  have 
known  she  was  vanquished.  The  answer  of 
his  Holiness  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  As  might 
have  been  expected,  it  resulted  in  troops  being 
despatched  into  the  Waldensian  territory,  to 
put  down  the  heretics  by  force  of  arms.  Before 
the  Duke  had  resorted  to  so  desperate  a  course, 

1  Saint-Genis,  Hist,  de  Savoie,  III,  pp.  480-81. 

264 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

he  had,  doubtless  at  Margaret's  suggestion,  sum- 
moned fourteen  Waldensian  ministers  to  confer 
with  his  representatives.  But  no  agreement  had 
been  arrived  at ;  and  so,  with  the  sound  of  trumpet, 
it  was  proclaimed  throughout  the  valleys  that 
henceforth  any  person  attending  the  Waldensian 
services  would  be  liable  to  one  hundred  crowns 
fine  for  the  first  offence  and  to  the  galleys  for  life 
for  the  second.  It  was  the  ignoring  of  this  edict 
that  had  driven  Emmanuel  Philibert  to  send 
his  soldiers  against  the  heretics. 

All  Margaret  could  now  do  was  to  secure  the 
general  of  this  army  being  a  moderate  person 
like  herself  ;  Philip  of  Savoy,  Lord  of  Racconigi,  a 
just  and  humane  soldier,  was  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand. The  Waldenses  were  passive  resisters ;  they 
held  the  doctrine  of  the  sanctity  of  human  life  ; 
and  it  was  not  because  they  were  afraid,  but  in 
order  to  avoid  bloodshed  that  they  fled  before 
the  invaders ;  so,  as  Emmanuel  Philibert's  army 
advanced  into  their  territory,  the  soldiers  found 
all  the  villages  deserted,  the  inhabitants  having 
packed  up  their  scanty  possessions  and  with 
their  wives  and  children  retreated  to  their  moun- 
tain strongholds.  Racconigi,  who  from  the  be- 
ginning had  disliked  his  task,  hastened  to  inform 
the  Duke  that  it  would  be  hopeless  to  pursue 
the   mountaineers   into   their   rocky   fortresses.1 

1  E.  Ricotti,  Receuil  des  Actes  de  l'Acad&mie  des  Sciences  d 
Turin,  Vol.  XVII,  2ihme  serie,  doc.  38. 

265 


Margaret  of  France 

But  Emmanuel  Philibert,  once  having  resorted 
to  arms,  was  not  to  be  thus  daunted.  He  super- 
seded Racconigi  by  le  Comte  della  Trinita, 
known  as  le  Comte  de  la  Tyrannie,  whose  blood- 
thirsty zeal  in  this  Waldensian  crusade  earned 
him  the  reputation  of  a  Simon  de  Montfort. 
With  four  thousand  foot  and  two  hundred 
horse  in  the  spring  of  1561,  the  Count  marched 
into  the  heretical  valleys,  burning  and  pillaging 
wherever  he  went.  At  length,  driven  to  despera- 
tion, exasperated  beyond  endurance,  at  bay 
in  their  fortress  at  the  head  of  the  gorge,  Pra 
del  Tor,  the  Waldenses  turned  on  the  invaders. 
With  such  primitive  weapons  as  bows  and  arrows 
and  stones  hurled  from  slings,  in  the  first  action 
they  slew  sixty  of  the  Count's  men,  themselves 
only  losing  three.  A  series  of  such  engagements 
followed.  And  even  to  the  Count  it  became 
obvious  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  over- 
come those  desperate  mountaineers. 

Then  Margaret  pressed  her  advantage.  "  Would 
the  Duke  continue  to  risk  the  lives  of  brave 
soldiers  in  order  to  slaughter  honest  peasants  ?  " 
she  argued.  And  Emmanuel  Philibert  was  con- 
vinced. A  deputation  of  Waldenses  was  sum- 
moned to  Vercelli,  where  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
were  then  residing.  And  here,  according  to  one 
of  the  Waldensian  ministers,  the  Duke  made 
the  following  welcome  declaration  :  "In  vain 
do  the  Pope  and  my  own  councillors  urge  me  to 

266 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

exterminate  this  people  ;  in  my  own  heart  I 
have  taken  counsel  with  my  God,  and  he  still 
more  powerfully  urgeth  me  not  to  destroy  them." 
The  deputation  was  also  admitted  to  the  presence 
of  Margaret,  "  their  good  duchess,"  as  they  had 
learnt  to  call  her.  In  words  which  admirably 
express  her  philosophy  of  life,  she  admonished 
them,  saying  :  "  You  have  no  idea  what  evil 
reports  of  you  have  reached  us.1  But  fear  not ; 
live  righteously,  obey  God  and  your  prince ; 
keep  peace  with  your  neighbours  and  all  the 
promises  made  to  you  shall  be  duly  kept." 

The  Waldenses  knew  that  the  Duchess  had 
stayed  her  husband's  hand.  And  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  in  a  letter  to  Racconigi,  admitted  that 
he  had  pardoned  his  rebellious  subjects  for  the 
sake  of  Madame.2 

On  the  5th  of  June,  1561,  the  Duke  signed 
a  treaty  granting  the  Waldenses  permission  to 
hold  their  services  in  three  of  the  mountain  valleys 
and  in  four  villages  of  the  plain,  but  mass  was 
to  be  celebrated  throughout  their  territory.3 
By  a  curious  coincidence  this  charter  of  Italian 

1  The  Waldenses  were  unjustly  accused  of  all  manner  of  vices, 
among  the  least  of  which  were  turbulence  and  perfidy. 

2  Archivio  di  Stato  (Turin),  Collection  15,  Valli  di  Luzerna, 
also  Savoia-Racconigi,  No.  1.  See  Italian  Letter  with  English 
translation,  Appendix  D,  pp.  239-40. 

3  For  the  detailed  terms  of  this  treaty  see  Pierre  de  la  Place, 
Commentaires  de  VEstat  de  la  Religion  (ed.  Pantheon),  Bk.  V, 
PP-  135-7- 

267 


Margaret  of  France 

religious  toleration  was  signed  at  Cavour,  the 
birth-place  of  one  who  two  centuries  later  was  to 
devote  his  life  to  the  establishment  of  Italian 
political  freedom  and  of  Italian  unity. 

Save  for  one  or  two  outbursts  of  discontent, 
the  Waldenses  practised  the  sage  counsel  of  their 
good  duchess,  and,  living  at  peace  with  their 
neighbours,  enjoyed  a  measure  of  religious  free- 
dom for  nearly  a  century,  from  the  Treaty  of 
Cavour  down  to  the  terrible  massacre  of  1655. 

The  Treaty  of  Cavour  was  highly  displeasing 
to  the  Duke's  Catholic  allies,  especially  to  the 
Pope  Pius  IV  and  to  Philip  of  Spain.  And  in 
order  to  revive  his  Catholic  zeal  they  urged  him 
to  reconquer  those  lands  which  the  Protestants 
of  Geneva  had  won  from  his  father.  Counting  on 
promised  Spanish  and  papal  reinforcements,  Em- 
manuel Philibert  opened  a  Swiss  campaign.  But 
his  allies  failed  him  and  he  was  driven  to  make 
peace  with  his  enemies  and  to  content  himself 
with  regaining  only  part  of  his  lost  territory. 
Margaret  had  always  disapproved  of  this  war. 
And  the  Treaty  of  Lausanne  1  which  put  an  end 
to  it  bears  signs  of  her  influence.  Indeed  the 
treaty  was  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
principles  of  religious  liberty  that  it  might  have 
been  drawn  up  by  Margaret  herself.  For  in  it 
the  Duke  guaranteed  absolute  freedom  of  worship 
to   all   Protestants  in   the  reconquered  country. 

1  Signed  on  the  30th  of  October,  1564. 
268 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

The  preamble  shows  that  at  length  Margaret 
had  completely  converted  her  husband  to  her 
own  view  of  religious  toleration  :  "As  for  our 
former  subjects,"  it  ran,  "  they  have  professed 
their  religion  for  so  long,  that  they  could  only 
be  turned  from  it  by  means  of  great  violence, 
which  is  a  thing  altogether  contrary  to  our 
nature.  We  have  seen  what  misfortune  and 
desolation  have  come  upon  neighbouring  lands 
by  reason  of  diversity  in  belief.  Wherefore  never 
shall  our  subjects  be  persecuted  or  vexed  in  any 
manner,  either  in  body  or  in  goods,  either  by  us 
or  by  our  officers,  and  if  on  account  of  their 
religion  our  subjects  were  to  suffer  any  hurt, 
we  would,  as  becometh  a  just  prince,  punish  those 
who  had  inflicted  it." 

Such  a  declaration  from  a  prince  who  but 
three  years  before,  with  fire  and  sword  had  been 
devastating  the  lands  of  his  Protestant  subjects, 
was  a  triumph  for  Margaret's  firm  but  tactful 
advocacy  of  religious  liberty. 

Philip's  failure  to  keep  his  promise  in  the 
Swiss  campaign  can  have  been  no  surprise  to 
Margaret.  She,  like  a  true  Valois,  had  always 
distrusted  the  Spaniard.  And  while  maintaining 
friendly  personal  relations  >  with  her  old  suitor, 
she  never  ceased  to  warn  her  husband  against 
placing  too  much  confidence  in  his  Cousin  Philip. 

1  See  her  letters  to  Philip  in  the  Archives  Nationales  at 
Paris,  K.  1493. 

269 


Margaret  of  France 


When,  in  1562,  the  French  had  evacuated  their 
four  fortresses,  Margaret  permitted  herself  a 
moment's  exultation  :  "  Hah,  hah  !  my  lord," 
she  cried  to  her  husband,  "  you  used  to  say  that 
your  only  difficulty  would  be  with  the  French, 
and  that  the  Spaniards  were  eager  to  surrender 
their  fortresses.  But  now  that  the  French  have 
evacuated  those  places  which  they  fairly  conquered 
in  war,  the  Spaniards  are  far  from  restoring  those 
they  took  from  you  nominally  for  purposes  of 
defence."  1 

Meanwhile  with  the  deepest  concern  the  Duchess 
of  Savoy  was  following  the  religious  strife  in  her 
native  land.  There  her  sympathies  must  have 
been  divided,  for  the  leaders  of  both  parties — 
the  Constable  on  the  one  hand  and  Coligny 2 
on  the  other — were  her  friends  and  so  were  many 
of  their  followers. 

Letters  from  Catherine,  from  the  Constable 
and  from  the  Constable's  wife,  Madeleine  de 
Montmorency,  kept  Margaret  informed  of  the 
progress  of  events. 

Despite  frequent  conferences  and  attempts 
at  agreement  between  the  two  parties,  civil  war 
with  all  its  horrors  broke  out  in  the  summer  of 
1562.     And  the  waves  of  massacre  and  pillage 

1  Alberi,  Relazione  degli  Amb.  Venet.,  2nd  series,  Vol.  II,  p.  54. 
Relazione  di  Sig.  Cavalli,  1564. 

2  Conde  was  nominally  the  Huguenot  leader,  but  Coligny 
was  the  moving  spirit  of  the  party. 

270 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

rolled  to  the  very  frontiers  of  Piedmont,  for  in 
Dauphine,  the  Huguenots,  under  their  desperate 
chief  Des  Adrets,  took  a  terrible  revenge  for  the 
barbarity  of  the  Catholics  elsewhere. 

For  more  than  twenty  years,  ever  since  Calvin 
had  studied  there,  Margaret's  own  town  of  Bourges 
had  been  a  stronghold  of  the  Reformation. 
Throughout  the  summer  of  1562,  the  city  was 
besieged  by  a  Catholic  army,  to  which  it  capitu- 
lated on  the  31st  of  August.  Although  the  terms 
of  the  capitulation  were  fairly  good,  liberty  of 
conscience  being  guaranteed  to  the  inhabitants, 
Margaret's  agents  in  the  city  appear  to  have 
suffered.  And  in  December  this  year  she  wrote 
very  strongly  to  Catherine  complaining  of  their 
ill-treatment  and  asking  the  Queen  to  take  the 
city  under  her  protection.1 

At  the  Battle  of  Dreux  in  this  month  of  Decem- 
ber Margaret's  "  good  father,"  the  Constable,  was 
for  the  second  time  wounded  and  for  the  second 
time  taken  prisoner.  The  Duchess  of  Savoy 
shared  her  brother's  exaggerated  opinion  of  the 
Constable's  ability  and  importance.  With  Mont- 
morency in  prison,  Margaret,  like  Henry  II, 
believed  that  France  must  be  ruined.  And  so, 
as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  battle  reached  her  she 
began  to  agitate  for  peace.  In  March,  1563,  she 
wrote  to  the  Constable's  son  Francis  : 

"  Cousin,  by  Moretta,  the  bearer  of  this  missive, 
I  send  a  letter  to  the  Queen,  in  which  I  very 

1  See  La  Revue  Histovique,  nu.  cit.,  p.  322. 
271 


Margaret  of  France 

humbly  beseech  her  to  employ  every  possible 
means  for  the  making  of  peace,  although  I  am 
well  assured  that  there  is  no  need  thus  to  urge 
her,  for  she  is  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  loss  to 
her  service  and  to  the  King's  occasioned  by  the 
absence  and  detention  of  Monsieur  le  Connetable."1 

Then  Margaret  goes  on  to  refer  to  the  other 
recent  heavy  losses  sustained  by  the  Catholic 
party  in  the  death  of  King  Antoine  of  Navarre 
at  the  siege  of  Rouen  in  November,  1562,  and  in 
the  assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  by  Poltrot 
de  Mere,  on  the  following  18th  of  February. 

Touching  the  latter  event,  on  the  25th  of 
February,  Catherine  had  written  her  sister-in-law 
a  significant  letter  breathing  the  bitterest  hatred 
and  fear  of  the  Admiral.2  The  Queen  did  not 
spare  Margaret's  friend  but  related  in  full  all 
she  had  heard  of  his  wicked  deeds  and  of  his  evil 
intentions.  She  told  how  she  had  visited  the 
assassin  of  Guise,  and  how  he  had  told  her  "  freely 
and  without  being  threatened "  that  Coligny 
had  promised  him  one  hundred  crowns  to  murder 
Guise.  ' ' The  wretch, "  she  continued,  ' '  had  warned 
her  to  take  heed  for  her  own  safety  and  that  of 

1  Mon  cousin,  escripvant  d  la  Royne  par  Monsieur  de  Morette 
present  porteur,  je  luy  fais  tres  humble  requeste  de  vouloir  adviser  tous 
les  moyens  possibles  pour  faire  quelque  bonne  paise,  encores  que  je 
sois  bien  asseure  qu'il  ne  soit  besoing  de  luy  en  rien  ramentevoir  et 
qu'elle  consider^  assez  la  faulte  que  V absence  et  detention  de  monsieur 
le  Connestable  faiet  au  service  du  Roy  et  sien.  .  .  .  Bib.  Nat., 
F.F.  3410,  Fo.  47. 

8  Lettres  de  Catherine  de  Medicis,  ed.  cit.,  I,  p.  516. 

272 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

her  children,  because  the  Admiral,  who  hated 
her  bitterly,  had  in  his  pay  sixty  men  who  were 
instructed  to  slay  the  Queen  and  several  of  her 
friends." 

"  Behold,  Madam,"  Catherine  concluded,  "  how 
we  are  to  be  treated  by  a  man  who  declares  that 
all  he  does  is  for  the  sake  of  religion." 

As  we  read  these  lines  we  seem  to  hear  the 
whiz  of  the  bullet,  which,  nine  years  later,  winged 
with  Catherine's  revenge,  was  to  strike  down  her 
enemy.  There  are  many  who  believe  that  Poltrot 
was  lying  when  he  accused  the  Admiral  of  directly 
instigating  the  assassination  of  Guise,  and  no  one, 
not  even  the  most  bigoted  Catholic,  would 
suggest  that  Coligny  was  planning  the  murder 
of  the  royal  family  and  their  friends.  But  what- 
ever truth  there  may  or  may  not  have  been  in 
Poltrot's  statements,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
they  went  far  to  bring  about  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew. 

Catherine  was  now  deprived  of  all  her  great 
generals  :  the  Constable  was  a  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  the  Huguenots  at  Orleans,  the  King 
of  Navarre  and  the  Duke  of  Guise  were  dead,  and 
the  Marechal  de  Brissac  was  crippled  with  gout. 
The  Queen  therefore  was  driven  to  take  Margaret's 
advice  and  to  make  peace.  At  Amboise,  on  the 
7th  of  March,  1563,  a  treaty  was  signed,  by  which 
the  Constable  was  liberated  and  the  exercise  of  the 
Reformed  Religion  permitted  in  certain  districts. 
t  273 


Margaret  of  France 

Between  the  first  and  second  wars  of  religion 
there  was  an  interval  of  two  years.  And  this 
time  was  occupied  by  Charles  IX  and  his  court 
in  a  lengthy  progress  through  France,  in  order 
"  to  set  everything  at  rest,"  as  Catherine  put  it 
in  a  letter  to  Margaret.1 

This  royal  journey  brought  the  court  to  the 
frontiers  of  Savoy  and  afforded  Margaret  and  her 
husband  an  opportunity  for  reunion  with  the 
friends  and  relatives  from  whom  they  had  been 
five  years  parted. 

According  to  her  letters,  Catherine  had  been 
looking  forward  to  this  visit  for  years.  In  1562, 
she  had  written  to  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  :  "I 
beseech  you,  Madam,  be  not  so  wrapped  up  in 
your  son  as  to  cease  to  desire  to  see  your  sister, 
whose  one  delight  is  to  contemplate  the  happiness 
and  honour  of  meeting  you  soon."  2 

And  indeed  with  a  delight  equal  to  Catherine's 
did  Margaret  herself  look  forward  to  the  meeting. 

It  was  therefore  in  high  spirits  that,  early  in 
July,  1564,  accompanied  by  her  husband,  she 
set  out  from  Chambery  to  join  the  French  court 
at  Lyon. 

Her  nephew  Charles  IX  came  out  to  meet  her 
as  far  as  the  chateau  of  Miribel  on  Lake  Bourget. 
And  there  they  dined  together  on  the  4th  of  July, 
proceeding  afterwards  to  Lyon. 

In  this  city  Margaret  met  many  old  friends 

1  Lettres,  II,  128.  2  Ibid.,  I,  303. 

274 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

and  relatives  whom  she  had  not  seen  since  her 
marriage  :  her  aunt,  Renee  of  Ferrara,  her  niece 
the  third  Margaret,  now  a  blooming  maiden  of 
twelve,  very  precocious  even  for  those  precocious 
days,  her  bon  pere  the  Constable,1  her  cousin 
Jeanne  d'Albret,  Queen  of  Navarre  and  the 
Queen's  son,  the  eleven  year  old  Prince  Henry, 
afterwards  King  Henry  IV.  At  Lyon  also  she 
rejoiced  to  find  her  former  chancellor,  Michel 
de  l'Hospital,  her  good  friend  the  Cardinal  of 
Lorraine  and  her  physician  Dr.  Castellane,  from 
whose  treatment  she  had  derived  such  benefit  in 
1560. 

Dr.  Castellane  and  the  great  Ambroise  Pare 
were  occupied  at  Lyon  in  observing  the  plague 
which  had  for  some  weeks  been  raging  in  the  city  ; 
and  at  the  Queen's  command  Ambroise  Pare 
was  writing  an  account  of  the  pestilence. 

It  is  amazing  to  find  the  court  staying  on  in 
so  infected  a  spot,  but,  according  to  the  English 
ambassador,  Catherine  lingered  in  daily  expecta- 
tion of  the  arrival  of  her  cousin,  the  Duke  of 
Ferrara. 

The  surrounding  sickness,  however,  did  not 
damp  the  gaiety  of  the  court.  And  for  three 
weeks  feasting  and  merriment  were  the  order  of 

1  In  one  of  Margaret's  letters  (Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3260,  Fo.  5), 
which,  although  undated,  was  probably  written  after  her  marriage, 
reference  is  made  to  the  Constable's  proposed  visit  to  Margaret. 
I  have  been  unable  to  discover  whether  that  visit  took  place. 

275 


Margaret  of  France 

the  day.1  Catherine  thought  that  the  best  way  to 
pacify  France  was  to  amuse  it.  Consequently 
she  employed  all  her  Italian  taste  and  ingenuity 
in  devising  banquets  and  tournaments,  masques 
and  concerts  by  land  and  by  water.2  She  had 
now  organised  her  famous  escadre  volante,  those 
eighty  maids  of  honour,  who,  robed  as  goddesses 
but  alluring  as  mortals,  were  intended  to  ensnare 
the  Protestant  nobles  and  win  them  to  arts  of 
peace.  They  had  already  caught  in  their  toils 
the  feeble,  fascinating  Conde. 

Beneath  her  apparent  frivolity  Catherine  was 
intent  on  the  ruin  of  the  Huguenot  party.  The 
warnings  of  Poltrot  de  Mere  were  never  absent 
from  her  mind.  One  of  the  objects  of  this  progress 
was  to  show  the  King  the  ravages  committed  by 
Huguenots  in  the  recent  war  while  carefully  con- 
cealing from  him  the  damage  done  by  Catholics. 
At  Lyon  the  court  was  in  a  Huguenot  city.  The 
Protestant  ambassador  of  England,  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  was  pleased  to  find  that  in  the  cathedral 
church  of  Lyon,  where  he  conferred  the  order  of 
the  garter  on  Charles  IX,  there  "  was  never 
an  image  "  or  books  of  service,  that  only  one 
mass  was  said  in  the  day,  and  that  at  the  saying 
the  worshippers  did  not  kneel  but  stood  upright. 

1  Paradin,  Histoire  de  Lyon,  p.  379  ;  Abel  Jouan  Le  Voyage 
de  Charles  IX  en  France  (Pieces  Fugitives  par  le  Marquis  d'Aubais, 
I,  pp.  3-9)  ;  Pericaud,  op.  cit.,  pp.  42  et  seq. ;  Cal.  St.  Papers, 
Foreign,  1564-5,  pp.  157  etseq.,  etc.  *  M.  de  Valois,  MSmoires, 
p.  8,  Fetes  on  arrival  of  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Savoy. 

276 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

Before  entering  this  hotbed  of  Protestantism, 
Catherine  had  taken  every  precaution.  She  had 
sent  the  Constable  on  before  to  secure  the  citadel 
and  with  orders  to  keep  the  keys  of  it  as  long  as 
the  court  should  remain  at  Lyon.  With  the  object 
of  overawing  the  Protestants,  Catherine  chose 
this  time  of  the  court's  sojourn  at  Lyon  for  the 
adoption  of  repressive  measures.  The  Huguenot 
princesses,  Renee  of  Ferrara,  and  Jeanne  d'Albret, 
were  forbidden  to  hold  Reformed  services  in  their 
apartments.  Protestant  nobles,  whom  the  Treaty 
of  Amboise  permitted  to  hold  Reformed  services 
in  their  castles,  were  forbidden  to  admit  outsiders 
to  their  worship. 

Such  measures  must  have  grieved  Margaret. 
Now  as  always  she  was  doing  her  best  to  promote 
peace  between  the  two  parties  by  urging  the  Hugue- 
nots to  abstain  from  violence  and  by  attempting 
to  convince  Catherine  of  the  dangers  of  coercion. 

Meanwhile  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Savoy 
were  not  unmindful  of  their  personal  interests 
and  of  those  of  their  state.  They  pressed  for  the 
payment  of  a  part  of  Margaret's  marriage  portion 
long  overdue  and  for  the  surrender  of  those  for- 
tresses in  Piedmont  still  garrisoned  by  French 
troops.  Considering  the  emptiness  of  the  royal 
exchequer  at  that  time  they  were  probably  as 
unsuccessful  in  carrying  the  first  point  as  we 
know  them  to  have  been  in  the  last.1 

1  It  was  not  until  a  few  days  before  Margaret's  death  that 
the  French  finally  evacuated  Piedmont. 

277 


Margaret  of  France 

All  this  time  the  plague  was  growing  worse 
and  worse.  One  or  two  men  died  in  the  street 
right  in  front  of  the  English  ambassador's  house. 
Corpses  lay  in  the  roadway,  abandoned  in  the 
most  inhuman  manner  by  the  inhabitants,  who, 
leaving  the  sick  to  die  of  hunger  and  lack  of 
tending,  flocked  in  thousands  to  listen  to  the 
daily  sermons.  At  length  the  court  was  driven 
to  leave  the  city,  and  about  the  17th  of  July  to 
take  refuge  at  Trevieu,  some  ten  miles  out.  But 
even  there  they  ran  great  danger,  for  all  their 
victuals  had  to  be  fetched  from  the  infected  city. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  month  they  finally 
left  the  neighbourhood  of  Lyon  and  proceeded  to 
RoussiUon.  About  that  time  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
took  his  leave  of  the  court  for  a  while,  the  Duchess 
remaining  behind  and  accompanying  her  friends 
to  Avignon.  There  in  October  she  was  rejoined 
by  her  husband.  And  there,  wrote  the  English 
ambassador,  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  he  had  much 
courteous  talk  with  the  Duke  and  Duchess.  It 
was  then  being  proposed  that  the  Duke  should 
pay  a  second  visit  to  England  to  confer  upon 
one  of  Elizabeth's  nobles  the  order  of  St.  Michael, 
by  which  King  Charles  wished  to  reciprocate 
the  Queen's  favour  in  investing  him  with  the 
order  of  the  garter.  This  plan  however  was 
afterwards  abandoned. 

It  was  probably  at  Avignon  that  Margaret 
bade  farewell  to  the  French  court  and  to  so  many 

278 


Phot,  Giraudon 


ANNE    DE    MONTMORENCY 
From  a  Clouet  drawing  at  Cliantilly 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

dear  ones  whom  she  was  never  to  see  again  ; 
for  we  find  no  mention  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
in  the  accounts  of  the  subsequent  progress. 
Margaret  was  certainly  not  present  at  that  fate- 
ful interview  between  Catherine  and  Alva,  which 
took  place  at  Bayonne  in  the  following  year, 
and  where  doubtless  Spain  encouraged  Catherine 
in  her  sinister  designs  against  the  Huguenots. 

Before  leaving  the  court,  Margaret  received 
from  her  nephew  the  King  a  handsome  gift  in 
the  shape  of  Aliscamps  monuments  from  Aries  ; 
and  we  fear  that  her  artistic  sense  did  not  prevent 
her  from  removing  from  the  Arlesian  cemetery 
those  masterpieces  of  early  Christian  sculpture. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  interview  at  Bayonne 
that  civil  war  broke  out  again  ;  and  for  two  years 
(1566-1568)  France  was  the  scene  of  smoking 
ruins  and  clanging  fights. 

At  the  Battle  of  St.  Denis,  on  the  10th  of 
November,  1567,  Margaret's  bon  pere  was  fatally 
wounded  ;  and  two  days  later  his  eventful  life 
of  seventy-five  years  came  to  an  end.  He  was 
as  Ronsard  calls  him  "  the  old  Nestor  "  of  six- 
teenth-century France. 

"  Duquel  tous jours  la  langue  au  logis  conseillait 
Et  la  vaillante  main  dans  les  champs  balailloit."  1 

His  counsel  had  not  always  been  wise,  his 
valiant  hand  had  too  often  been  raised  in  the 

1  Hymne  IV,  de  Henri  Deuxiesme  de  ce  Nom.    CEuvres,  V,  73. 

279 


Margaret  of  France 

cause  of  oppression,  but,  according  to  his  light, 
he  had  loyally  served  the  house  of  Valois,  and  in 
Anne  de  Montmorency  Margaret  lost  one  of  her 
best  friends. 

The  following  year,  on  the  23rd  of  March, 
Catholics  and  Huguenots  again  came  to  terms  at 
Longjumeau.  In  this  treaty,  which  was  favour- 
able to  the  Huguenots,  the  moderate  counsels  of 
Margaret  and  of  the  Chancellor  l'Hospital  pre- 
vailed for  the  last  time.  L' Hospital  was  dismissed 
from  office  in  the  following  October.  On  hearing 
of  the  negotiations  at  Longjumeau,  Margaret 
had  written  that  her  joy  was  greater  than  she 
could  tell,  for  peace  alone  could  bring  prosperity 
to  the  realm,  war  could  result  in  nothing  but  the 
ruin  and  destruction  of  the  state.1 

Alas !  the  Peace  of  Longjumeau  was  but 
short-lived.  In  seven  months  war  broke  out 
afresh.  Passions  raged  fiercer  and  fiercer, 
Catherine  fell  more  and  more  under  the  influence 
of  Spain  ;  and  in  1572  came  the  catastrophe  of 
the  24th  of  August. 

Margaret  had  been  powerless  to  avert  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  But  she  did  her 
best  to  diminish  the  number  of  its  victims,  and 
she  was  able  to  save  the  life  of  her  old  friend, 
Michel  de  l'Hospital.  Since  his  dismissal  in 
1568,  l'Hospital  had  withdrawn  from  court  to 
his  country  house  at   Vignay.     But  even  there 

1  Revue  Historiqae,  nu.  cit.,  Letter  VI  to  Morvilliers. 

280 


Margaret  and  the  Protestants 

the  hatred  of  the  Spanish  and  extreme  Catholic 
party  pursued  him.  For  his  wife  was  a  Protestant, 
and  although  he  himself  had  never  withdrawn 
from  the  Catholic  Church  he  was  known  to  be  in 
sympathy  with  the  Huguenots.  Margaret  realised 
her  friend's  danger  and  wrote  to  Catherine  en- 
treating her  to  provide  for  his  safety.  The  Queen 
thereupon  despatched  a  company  of  horse,  who 
arrived  only  just  in  time  to  protect  l'Hospital 
and  his  wife  from  the  fury  of  the  Catholic  mob, 
who,  after  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  were  pre- 
paring to  follow  in  the  provinces  the  example 
set  by  their  co-religionists  in  Paris.  In  the  deepest 
gratitude  for  so  narrow  an  escape  l'Hospital  wrote 
to  Margaret  :  "  What  kings  and  what  powers 
hast  thou  not  invoked,  O  noble  princess,  in  these 
sorrowful  days.  Far  distant  wert  thou,  and  yet 
thy  protecting  hand  reached  me  here.  But  for 
thee  I  should  now  be  groaning  in  a  dungeon  or 
buried  in  a  tomb."  x 

In  the  same  letter  l'Hospital  relates  the  anxiety 
he  had  suffered  touching  the  fate  of  his  daughter, 
Madame  de  Belesbat,  who  was  in  Paris  on  the 
night  of  St.  Bartholomew.  She  was  rescued  by 
Margaret's  cousin,  Anne  d'Este,  Duchess  of 
Nemours.  Ever  since  the  day  when  as  the  bride 
of  her  first  husband,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  l'Hospital 
had  escorted  Anne  from  Ferrara  to  Paris,  the 
Duchess  had  cherished  great  esteem  and  affection 

1  Lib.  VI.,  Ep.  IX  (ed.  Dufey  III,  pp.  495-504). 

281 


Margaret  of  France 

for  the  Chancellor  and  for  his  family.  While  the 
massacre  was  raging  Anne  d'Este  hid  Madame  de 
Belesbat  in  her  house,  and,  when  the  fury  of  the 
Catholics  had  somewhat  abated,  she  passed  her 
off  as  her  servant  and  drove  with  her  out  of  Paris. 

L'Hospital  did  not  long  survive  the  agonies 
of  those  August  days.  Only  eight  months  later, 
on  the  23rd  of  March,  1573,  he  died,  expressing 
his  gratitude  to  Margaret  in  his  will,  of  which  he 
left  her,  with  Catherine,  executrix. 

It  may  be  that  Margaret  herself  never  recovered 
from  the  shock  of  that  terrible  week,  when  her 
friend  Coligny  and  so  many  others  of  the  noblest 
and  best  in  the  land  suffered  death.  In  the  two 
years  of  life  which  remained  to  her,  Margaret 
did  her  best  to  succour  those  Huguenots  who, 
having  escaped  from  France  with  their  lives, 
had  left  behind  them  all  means  of  livelihood. 
To  the  support  of  the  French  Protestant  refugees 
in  Geneva  the  Duchess  of  Savoy  subscribed 
annually  four  thousand  florins. 


282 


CHAPTER  XVI 

LAST   YEARS 

Margaret's  liberality — Her  protection  of  Art  and  Learning  in 
Savoy — French  visitors  at  Turin — Paul  de  Foix  and  Henry  III 
of  France — Henry's  cession  of  the  last  fortresses  held  by 
the  French  in  Piedmont — The  Rebel,  Damville,  at  Turin — 
Sickness  in  the  royal  palace — Margaret's  last  letters  and 
death — The  policy  of  Savoy  after  her  death. 

"  No  coward  soul  is  mine, 

No  trembler  in  the  world's  storm-troubled  sphere  : 

I  see  Heaven's  glories  shine, 

And  faith  shines  equal,  arming  me  from  fear." 

Emily  Bronte. 

IN   deeds    of    charity,   in    the    encouragement 
of   art   and    letters   and    in   a   voluminous 
correspondence   with    friends   and    relatives 
at    European    courts,    Margaret    spent    the 
last  years  of  her  life. 

As  spinster  and  as  matron  she  was  renowned  for 
her  liberality,  as  to  which  her  accounts  x  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale  speak  for  themselves. 
Here,  for  the  year  1549,  we  find  the  entry  of  four 
livres  ten  sous  given  to  an  orphan  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  other  sums  by  no  means  trifling  bestowed 

1  See  ante,  p.  47. 
283 


Margaret  of  France 

on  a  sick  day-labourer,  on  a  poor  soldier,  on  a  poor 
student  of  Paris,  on  a  blind  woman  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  not  to  mention  numerous  items  for  alms 
distributed  on  her  journeys. 

As  Duchess  of  Savoy  Margaret  had  even  more 
demands  on  her  purse  than  as  Princess  of  France. 
Piedmont  had  for  years  been  the  battle-ground 
of  Europe.  Its  people,  a  constant  prey  to  rival 
armies,  had  been  reduced  to  the  direst  poverty. 
Margaret  as  Duchess  set  aside  one-third  of  her 
revenue  for  charitable  purposes.  But  that  one- 
third  was  insufficient  to  supply  all  the  claims 
made  upon  her.  Her  income  did  not  cover  her 
expenditure,  and  she  died  in  debt.1 

Those  the  Duchess  most  delighted  to  aid  were 
young  girls,  whom  she  feared  poverty  might  lead 
into  slippery  places,  and  needy  gentlemen,  espe- 
cially those  who  had  lost  their  substance  in  the 
wars.  For  once  we  may  trust  Brantome,  for  as 
a  witness  to  Margaret's  generosity  he  is  able  to 
write  from  personal  experience.2  Returning  from 
Malta,  he  tells  how  he  passed  through  Turin  and 
found  the  Duchess  very  gracious,  giving  large 
sums  of  money  to  Frenchmen  who  begged  of  her 

1  Her  debts  no  doubt  were  also  partly  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  revenues  to  which  her  marriage  contract  entitled  her  had 
never  been  regularly  paid.  Thus  in  1572  we  find  these  sums 
eight  years  in  arrear  (Archivio  di  Stato,  Turin,  Matrimoni  della 
Real  Casa  di  Savoia,  102,  No.  9). 

2  QLuvves,  ed.  cit.,  VIII,  134.  When  he  tells  scandalous  tales 
of  Margaret  he  admits  that  he  writes  from  hearsay. 

284 


Last  Years 

and  to  some  offering  them  without  being  asked. 
"I  for  my  own  part,"  he  continues,  "  know  it 
from  experience ;  for  Madame  la  Comtesse  de 
Pancalier,1  sister  of  M.  de  Retz,  a  favourite  of 
the  Duchess  and  one  of  her  ladies,  inviting  me 
to  supper  in  her  room,  gave  me  a  purse  of  five 
hundred  crowns  from  the  aforesaid  great  lady, 
who  had  loved  my  aunt,  Madame  de  Dampierre 
and  my  mother." 

This  gift  Brantome  protests  that  he  refused. 
He  may  or  may  not  have  done  so.  But  if  he  did, 
he  was  doubtless  exceptional.  Most  of  his  country- 
men were  less  independent.  And  he  himself 
tells  us  that  "  no  Frenchman,  travelling  beyond 
the  mountains,  had  ever  to  complain  that  when, 
in  his  necessity,  he  appealed  to  the  Duchess 
she  did  not  help  him  in  every  way  and  give  him 
money  for  his  journey."  Ambroise  Pare,  when 
he  cured  a  man,  used  to  refuse  any  credit  to  him- 
self, saying  :  "  I  dressed  the  wound,  God  healed 
the  patient."  So  Margaret,  when  she  aided 
a  fellow-countryman  in  distress  bade  him  give 
thanks  to  God  alone,  in  whose  hands  she  was 
but  an  instrument. 

But  in  succouring  her  compatriots  the  Duchess 
did  not  forget  her  own  subjects.  The  far-reaching 
reforms  undertaken  by  Emmanuel  Philibert  in 

1  Madame  Dubescq,  whom  Catherine  had  sent  to  be  present 
at  the  birth  of  Margaret's  child  (see  ante  p.  237)  and  who  after- 
wards married  the  Count  of  Pancalieri. 

285 


Margaret  of  France 

agriculture  and  in  industry,  in  the  army,  the 
navy  and  the  judicature,  made  extensive  demands 
on  his  exchequer.  Vast  sums  also  he  had  been 
compelled  to  spend  on  fortifying  his  dominions. 
When  he  and  Margaret  first  entered  Turin  in 
1562  they  found  the  fortifications  in  ruins;  for 
the  French  had  pulled  down  the  old  walls  and 
were  constructing  new  ones,  which  were  only 
just  begun  when  the  city  was  surrendered.  The 
same  thing  had  happened  in  other  parts  of  Pied- 
mont. To  raise  funds  for  these  necessary  works 
and  reforms  the  Duke  was  compelled  to  levy  high 
imposts,  one  of  the  most  unpopular  of  which  was 
the  salt  tax  imposed  by  edict  in  1563. 

To  behold  her  subjects  crushed  beneath  the 
burden  of  heavy  taxes,  suffering  from  the  plague 
of  the  leeches  (la  playe  des  sangsues),  as  Margaret 
called  her  husband's  tax-gatherers,  was  to  her 
pitiful  heart  a  constant  source  of  sorrow.  And 
she  rejoiced  when  in  the  year  before  her  death 
she  succeeded  in  persuading  her  husband  to  grant 
one  year's  exemption  from  the  salt  tax  to  the 
town  of  Bourg-en-Bresse. 

In  her  care  for  her  subjects'  minds  Margaret 
was  as  indefatigable  as  in  her  concern  for  their 
bodies. 

And  it  must  have  greatly  pleased  her  to  find 
already  existing  in  Savoy  a  system  of  education, 
both  primary  and  secondary,  which,  through 
the  recent  wars,  had  not  suffered  as  much  as 

286 


Last  Years 

one  would  expect.  There  was  no  country  in 
Europe  where  in  the  sixteenth  century  elementary 
education  was  carried  on  to  the  same  extent  as 
in  Savoy.  Early  in  the  century  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  find  a  parish  which  did  not  possess 
its  schoolmaster,  and  in  certain  districts  there 
were  even  hamlet  schools,  groups  of  petites  ecoles 
de  hameau.  Mere  chapels-of-ease  became  centres 
of  instruction  for  the  neighbourhood.  And  in 
one  commune  the  inhabitants  clubbed  together 
to  endow  the  chapel  with  a  revenue  sufficient 
to  support  a  priest  who  should  educate  their 
children.  During  the  first  half  of  the  century 
numerous  colleges  had  been  founded  and  enriched 
by  wealthy  benefactors  and  benefactresses.  As 
early  as  1410,  the  town  of  Roche  possessed  two 
schools,  one  of  which,  a  hundred  years  later, 
was  converted  into  a  college  numbering,  in  1574, 
no  less  than  three  hundred  pupils.1 

At  the  head  of  the  educational  system  of  Pied- 
mont was  the  University  of  Turin,  which, 
in  1558,  had  been  closed  by  the  French. 
The  Duke,  when  in  the  following  year  he  was 
restored  to  his  dominions,  fixed  the  university 
temporarily  at  Mondovi,  where  it  remained 
until,  in  1562,  after  the  French  surrender  of  the 
capital,  it  became  possible  to  restore  the  seat 
of  learning  to  its  ancient  site.  Mondovi  however 
was  unwilling  to  cede  its  privileges  ;  prolonged 

1  Saint-Genis,  Hist,  de  Savoie,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  477. 

287 


Margaret  of  France 

negotiations  followed,  and  not  until  four  years 
later  was  the  university  moved  to  Turin ; 
Mondovi  having  been  compensated  by  the  foun- 
dation of  a  college. 

Under  Margaret's  protection  Turin,  like  Bourges, 
became  renowned  for  the  teaching  of  jurisprudence. 
The  great  Cujas,  as  we  have  seen,  came  to  Turin 
at  the  invitation  of  the  Duchess  ;  and  famous 
Italian  jurists  also  taught  there. 

The  arts  of  poetry,  painting  and  music  also 
received  encouragement  from  Margaret.  Affiliated 
to  the  Pleiade  was  a  school  of  Savoyard  poets, 
famous  in  their  own  day,  although  the  name  of  but 
one  of  their  number,  Claude  de  Buttet,  has  been 
remembered  by  posterity.  Buttet  was  born  at 
Chambery  about  1529.  Introduced  to  Margaret  by 
the  Cardinal  de  Chatillon,  and  having  recited  his 
verses  before  her  in  the  Louvre,  he  became 
one  of  her  ardent  admirers,  composing  an  epith- 
alamium 1  and  several  sonnets  in  her  honour. 
Among  the  best  is  one  beginning  : 

"  Dans  le  jar  din  oil  les  neuf  sceurs  m'ont  mis 
Sur  un  dur  marbre  entre  les  fleurs  d 'elite 
Ces  vers  j' engrave  a  une  Marguerite 
A  qui  les  Dieux  ont  mon  estre  soumis."  2 

It  has  been  suggested  that  his  longest  poem, 
I'Amalthee,  was  inspired  by  the  Duchess  of  Savoy. 

1  See  dedication  to  his  Epithalame. 

2  Claude  de  Buttet.    (Euvres  (ed.  Jouaust). 

288 


Last  Years 

Buttet,  like  so  many  of  Margaret's  friends,  died 
a  Huguenot. 

Every  student  of  Italian  art  is  acquainted  with 
the  Piedmontese  school  of  painting  which  was 
encouraged  by  Margaret  and  her  husband,  and 
adorned  by  the  artist,  Lanino,  whose  works  are  still 
to  be  seen  in  great  numbers  at  Turin,  Vercelli, 
Milan  and  Novara.  But  Margaret's  own  painter 
was  a  foreigner,  Christophe  Amberger,  the  friend 
of  Holbein  ;  and  Holbein's  portraits  of  Luther, 
Calvin,  Catherine  Bora  and  Erasmus  were  among 
the  treasures  of  Margaret's  gallery. 

Music  had  flourished  in  Piedmont  throughout 
the  French  occupation  ;  and  Brissac's  orchestra 
of  Piedmontese  violins  had  been  so  admired 
by  Henry  II  that  the  Marshal  had  felt  con- 
strained to  place  it  at  the  King's  disposal.1 
Margaret  too  appreciated  the  musical  gifts  of 
her  subjects ;  for,  as  we  have  seen,2  she  was 
an  accomplished  musician.  The  Frenchman, 
Goudimel,3  was  her  favourite  composer ;  and 
his  accompaniments  to  the  Psalms  of  David, 
arranged  in  four  parts  for  performance  in  the 
family  circle,  she  loved  to  play  upon  the  lute. 

1  Baltazarino,  the  conductor  of  this  orchestra,  was  appointed 
valet  de  chambre  to  the  King.  And  until  the  reign  of  Henry  III 
he  composed  all  the  ballets  danced  at  the  French  court. 

8  Ante  p.  35. 

3  Having  become  a  Protestant,  Goudimel  perished  in  the 
massacre  which  followed  St.  Bartholomew  at  Lyon,  where  his 
body  was  cast  into  the  river. 

u  289 


Margaret  of  France 

Like  most  French  princesses  who  married 
abroad,  Margaret  lived  in  French  style.  Her 
household,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  Pied- 
montese  maidens,  was  entirely  French.  Her 
doctor,  Guy  du  Moulin,  a  distinguished  man  of 
science,  was  a  native  of  Blois  and  a  friend  of 
Montaigne.  Margaret  knew  no  greater  pleasure 
than  to  welcome  to  her  court  emissaries  from 
France.  French  ambassadors  travelling  to  Italian 
courts  were  always  welcome  at  Turin. 

Thus,  in  1573,  Margaret  was  visited  by  the 
eminent  diplomatist,  Paul  de  Foix,  who  was 
on  his  way  to  convey  the  thanks  of  Charles  IX 
to  the  Pope  and  to  other  Italian  princes  for  the 
support  they  had  given  the  King's  brother, 
Henry,  Duke  of  Anjou,  in  his  candidature  for  the 
crown  of  Poland.  In  the  ambassador's  suite 
came  the  future  historian,  De  Thou,  who  in  his 
Memoirs  *  relates  that  they  found  the  Duke 
ill  of  a  quartan  fever,  and  the  Duchess,  "  as  in- 
telligent as  she  was  virtuous,"  managing  all  his 
affairs. 

The  situation  of  Turin  on  one  of  the  great 
European  high  roads  brought  Margaret  in  the 
following  year  another  visitor  in  the  person  of 
her  nephew,  Henry  d'Anjou.  Barely  had  Paul 
de  Foix  performed  his  mission,  when  its  occasion, 
Henry's  reign  in  Poland,  abruptly  came  to  an 
end.     Ever  since  St.   Bartholomew  Charles   IX, 

1  Ed.  Michaud  et  Poujoulat,  i«e  sdrie,  XI,  278. 

290 


Last  Years 

haunted  by  the  horror  of  that  terrible  night, 
had  been  sinking  into  the  grave.  On  the  30th 
of  May,  1574,  he  died.  Charles  left  no  son,  and 
on  his  death,  his  brother,  Henry  d'Anjou,  became 
King  of  France.  Henry  no  sooner  heard  of  his 
accession  to  the  French  throne  than  he  decided 
to  leave  Poland  immediately.  On  the  18th  of 
June,  slipping  out  of  his  capital  by  stealth,  he 
made  in  all  haste  for  the  frontier,  fleeing  more 
like  a  thief  than  a  king.  In  those  troubled 
times  his  fear  was  that  if  he  were  absent  the 
French  crown  might  be  reft  from  him ;  and 
he  was  no  doubt  only  too  eager  to  leave  a  country 
where  his  only  pleasure  had  been  to  receive  letters 
from  France. 

Fearing  the  hostility  of  the  Protestant  princes, 
the  conqueror  of  the  Huguenots  in  the  battles 
of  Jarnac  and  Moncontour  deemed  it  wise  to 
avoid  Germany  and  to  enter  Italy  by  way  of 
Vienna.  Exactly  one  month  after  his  flight 
from  Cracow,  Henry  entered  Venice.  With  all 
possible  pomp  and  magnificence,  on  the  18th 
of  July,  the  King  of  France  in  the  admiral's 
galley,  followed  by  the  Bucentaur  and  hundreds 
of  gaily  decorated  gondolas,  entered  the  harbour 
of  the  Republic.  At  night  the  city  was  illuminated 
with  lights  in  the  forms  of  columns,  pyramids 
and  fleurs-de-lis.  By  day  regattas,  banquets 
and  concerts  entertained  the  King.  In  the 
church  of  St.  Mark,  the  most  Christian  sovereign 

291 


Margaret  of  France 


was  present  at  a  solemn  Te  Deutn.  At  ball 
and  concert,  the  beauties  of  Venice  displayed 
their  seductive  charms. 

The  King's  impatience  to  return  to  France 
had  now  completely  vanished.  The  son  of  an 
Italian  mother  and  much  more  Italian  than 
French,  in  Italy  he  was  at  home.  To  his  volup- 
tuous nature  the  atmosphere  of  Venice  was 
paradise.  Despite  the  Queen  Mother's  entreaties 
that  he  would  hasten  back  to  France,  in  Venice 
he  lingered  ten  days,  spending  enormous  sums 
on  jewels  and  on  perfumes.  During  this  visit 
any  virility  Henry  might  ever  have  possessed 
forsook  him.  His  Italian  journey  rendered  him 
utterly  womanish.  Henceforth  he  eschewed  all 
manly  exercises.  Fearing  air  and  sunshine,  he 
cared  only  to  lie  beneath  a  canopy  in  a  painted 
gondola,  more  passionately  than  any  woman 
addicted  to  perfumes,  earrings,  lap-dogs  and  all 
manner  of  ornaments. 

At  length,  quitting  Venice  on  the  28th  of 
July,  Henry,  accompanied  by  his  uncle,  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  who  had  come  to  Venice  to  meet 
him,  proceeded  slowly  by  way  of  Padua,  Ferrara, 
Mantua  and  Vercelli  to  Turin,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  12th  of  August. 

One  might  have  expected  anyone  so  bounti- 
fully endowed  with  common  sense  as  Margaret 
to  have  turned  away  in  disgust  from  the 
painted,  perfumed    fop,   who,   borne    in  a  glass 

292 


Last  Years 

litter,  now  entered  her  capital.  But  Henry  was 
a  family  favourite,  the  darling  of  his  mother, 
of  his  sister  Margaret  x  and  of  his  aunt,  who 
now  welcomed  him  right  royally. 

The  Duchess  had  herself  superintended  all 
arrangements  for  her  nephew's  entertainment.2 
Feasts  succeeded  each  other  so  fast  that  there 
was  scarce  time  for  sleeping,  and  one  repast 
alone  cost  100,000  crowns.  To  pay  for  all  this 
magnificence  the  government  was  compelled  to 
contract  a  loan  and  to  levy  a  new  impost  on  the 
already  overtaxed  people. 

But  Margaret  doubtless  considered  such  lavish 
expenditure  justified  by  the  end  she  had  in  view. 
She  knew  how  to  touch  her  nephew's  heart ; 
and  by  these  festivities  she  intended  to  win  from 
the  King  of  France  those  long-coveted  fortresses 
which  the  French  still  held  in  Piedmont.  She 
tempted  him  with  the  fresh  ices  of  Turin  and 
the  succulent  melons  of  Asti.  And  for  this 
mess  of  pottage  Henry  was  quite  ready  to  sell 
the  last  footing  of  the  French  in  Italy  3  and  to 
part  with  the  towns  of  Perosa,  Savigliano  and 
Pinerolo,  which  were  all  that  remained  of  many 
years    of    warfare.      Without    consulting    either 

1  Only  in  her  girlhood.  They  quarrelled  later  as  Margaret 
relates  in  her  Memoirs. 

2  See  Nolhac  et  Solerti,  II  viaggio  in  Italia  di  Enrico  III  ( 1 890). 
8  There  still  remained  the  marquisate  of  Saluzzo,  concerning 

which  there  were  to  be  many  disputes  later,  but  that  was  not 
held  by  the  French  directly. 

293 


Margaret  of  France 


his  council  or  the  Queen  Mother,  he  agreed  to 
their  unconditional  surrender,  a  measure  for 
which  he  was  to  be  severely  blamed  on  his  return 
to  France. 

Thus  at  Turin  it  was  not  all  feasting  for  Henry. 
His  aunt  seasoned  her  melons  of  Asti  with  judicious 
advice  and  Catherine  insisted  upon  thrusting 
affairs  of  state  upon  her  voluptuous  son ;  to  meet 
him  in  Piedmont  she  sent  counsellors  who  were 
to  instruct  him  as  to  the  duties  of  kingship 
and  as  to  the  rules  for  the  ordering  of  a  court. 
At  Turin  also  Hemy  had  to  make  an  important 
decision.  For  there  he  was  confronted  by  the 
arch-rebel  of  his  kingdom,  Damville,  Governor 
of  Languedoc,  the  second  and  by  far  the  most 
brilliant  of  Anne  de  Montmorency's  sons. 

Damville  was  the  leader  of  those  moderate 
Catholics  or  Politiques,  who,  ever  since  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  had  thrown  in 
their  lot  with  the  Protestants  of  southern  France. 
And  backed  by  these  two  important  parties, 
the  Marechal  de  Damville  had  for  the  last  two 
years  been  playing  the  part  of  an  independent 
sovereign  in  his  province  of  Languedoc.  He  was 
now,  in  this  year  1574,  projecting  a  European 
Protestant  League,  which  was  to  include  the 
Queen  of  England,  the  German  Princes  and  the 
Duke  of  Alencon. 

Catherine  had  attempted  to  arrest  and  then 
to  poison  Damville,  but  in  vain ;  all  she  had  been 

294 


EMMANUEL    PHILIBERT 

Front  a  painting  l>v  Giacomo  I  'ighi  ( I '  Argento)  in  the  Pinai  oteca  at  Turin 


Last  Years 

able  to  do  was  to  throw  his  elder  brother,  Francois, 
Duke  of  Montmorency,  into  the  Bastille.  Now, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Savoy,  and,  having  extracted  a  safe -conduct 
from  Catherine,  Damville  came  to  Turin  to 
confer  with  his  sovereign. 

Incited  no  doubt  by  the  Queen  Mother,  Henry 
had  found  time  among  the  festivities  of  Venice 
to  write  to  Damville.  And  at  Ferrara  he  received 
an  emissary  from  the  Marechal,  who  came  bring- 
ing letters  of  submission.  Thereupon  the  King 
dictated  a  letter  in  which  he  invited  Damville 
to  come  and  meet  him  in  Piedmont.  "  Come 
with  all  possible  speed  and  meet  me  in  the  country 
of  my  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Savoy,"  he  wrote. 
"  And  accept  the  measures  of  security  which  he 
offers  you.  You  will  find  me  not  only  ready  to 
listen  to  your  justifications  and  your  complaints, 
but  everything  that  you  can  desire."  All  his 
life,  the  King  brazenly  protests,  he  had  made 
a  point  of  keeping  his  word.  And  now  he  is 
entering  his  kingdom  firmly  resolved  not  to  shed 
the  blood  of  his  subjects  but  rather  to  embrace 
them  in  that  affection  which  a  good  prince 
must  ever  bear  towards  his  people.  Then  with 
his  own  hand  the  King  repeated  the  invitation 
in  a  postscript  :  "  Come  to  me  at  my  uncle's," 
he  wrote.  "  There  you  will  be  in  perfect  safety. 
And  I  shall  be  pleased  and  shall  welcome  you 

gladly." 

295 


Margaret  of  France 

In  the  light  of  subsequent  events  which  were 
to  cause  Margaret  great  anxiety,  these  pro- 
testations of  the  King  have  an  ugly  look. 

The  Duke  of  Savoy,  acting  in  better  faith 
than  his  nephew,  likewise  entreated  Damville 
to  come,  offering  to  send  for  him  his  admiral's 
galley  and  promising  him  a  safe  conduct  by  land 
and  sea. 

Damville  accepted  the  invitation  and  reached 
Turin  about  the  20th  of  August. 

Margaret,  as  well  as  her  husband,  had  eagerly 
desired  this  meeting.  Confiding  in  her  nephew's 
good  sense,  she  hoped  to  effect  an  agreement  be- 
tween him  and  his  rebellious  chief.  And  indeed 
it  was  largely  on  Margaret's  clever  diplomacy 
that  Henry  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy  depended 
when  they  invited  Damville  to  Turin.  Margaret's 
lifelong  affection  for  the  house  of  Montmorency 
had,  since  her  marriage,  been  strengthened  by 
family  ties,  for  Damville's  mother,  Madeleine 
de  Montmorency,  with  whom  Margaret  was  in 
regular  correspondence,1  was  the  cousin  of  Em- 
manuel Philibert.  Moreover  Margaret's  sym- 
pathy with  the  Protestants  and  her  affection 
for  her  nephew  seemed  to  render  her  an  ideal 
peacemaker. 

But  even  the  tact  of  the  Duchess  of  Savoy 
was   powerless   to   contend   against   the   obtuse- 

1  See  Margaret's  letters  to  Madame  la  Connetable  in  La  Bib. 
Nat.,  F.F.  3015,  3152,  3238,  3320,  etc. 

296 


Last  Years 

ness  or  the  treachery  of  her  royal  nephew.  Henry 
had  either  from  the  first  intended  to  entrap 
Damville  by  luring  him  to  Turin  or  he  was  too 
stupid  to  see  what  a  fine  opportunity  this  meeting 
offered  him  of  making  peace  with  the  rebels  of 
Languedoc.  Far  from  making  Damville  his 
friend,  the  King  alienated  him  for  ever.  And 
when  the  Marechal  bade  Henry  farewell,  he 
hoped  he  might  never  see  his  sovereign  again 
save  in  a  picture. 

As  a  condition  of  Damville's  coming,  the  King 
had  undertaken  to  listen  patiently  to  the  demands 
of  the  rebels.  But  instead  of  keeping  his  promise, 
Henry  declared  to  Damville  at  the  outset  that 
their  chief  demand,  which  was  for  liberty  to 
hold  Protestant  services  in  public,  was  altogether 
out  of  the  question.  All  the  King  would  grant 
them  was  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  home  and 
permission  to  celebrate  baptisms  and  marriages 
there,  but  never  in  the  presence  of  more  than 
ten  persons.  So  from  the  very  beginning  of  the 
interview  all  grounds  of  agreement  vanished. 
And,  having  made  the  first  fatal  blunder  of  his 
reign,  the  King,  accompanied  by  the  Duke  of 
Savoy,  left  Piedmont  to  return  to  France.  Dam- 
ville remained  behind  at  Turin. 

And  now  Margaret  was  plunged  into  per- 
plexity. On  Henry's  departure  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  tacit  understanding  that  Dam- 
ville  was   not   to   be  permitted   to   leave  Turin 

297 


Margaret  of  France 


until  he  received  further  orders  from  the  King. 
And,  on  the  30th  of  August,  Henry  wrote  to  his 
aunt  requesting  her  not  to  let  the  Marechal 
leave  her  capital  before  the  12th  of  September, 
before  which  date  he  hoped  to  see  the  Queen 
Mother  and  to  consult  with  her  as  to  his  attitude 
towards  Damville.  At  the  same  time  the  Duke 
wrote  urging  the  Marechal  to  obey  his  sovereign's 
demands  and  assuring  him  that  they  were  for 
his  good.  Having  arrived  at  Lyon  and  seen  his 
mother,  the  King  wrote  again  to  Damville. 
The  letter  began  tentatively  by  asking  Damville 
whether  Henry  would  be  breaking  his  word  if 
he  were  to  supersede  him  in  his  command  ;  but 
it  concluded  on  a  more  peremptory  note  by  com- 
manding the  Marechal  to  remain  in  the  dominions 
of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  and  to  deliver  up  certain 
strongholds  in  Languedoc  into  the  hands  of 
the  King's  captains. 

This  letter  must  have  convinced  Damville 
that  when  he  was  enticed  to  Turin  he  had  been 
lured  into  a  trap,  and  it  must  have  strengthened 
Margaret's  suspicion  that  from  the  first  Henry 
had  had  designs  against  the  liberty  of  her  guest. 
A  letter  to  her  husband,1  which  she  wrote  on  the 
12th  of  September,  is  full  of  anxious  concern. 

"  My  Lord,"  she  writes,  "by  a  courrier  and 
by    the    King's    valet-de-chambre,    Monsieur    le 

1  Archivio  di  Stato,  Turin. 
298 


Last  Years 

Marechal  Damville  has  received  letters  from  his 
Majesty,  of  which  he  sends  you  copies.  .  .  .  They 
cause  him  anxiety,  especially  seeing  that  he 
has  heard  nothing  from  you.  You  will  see  that 
the  King  only  permits  him  to  retire  into  his 
province  on  certain  conditions  which  he  sets 
forth.  .  .  .  The  said  Seigneur  Marechal  is  greatly 
concerned  at  having  heard  nothing  from  you 
except  what  you  wrote  to  me  in  the  letter  I  re- 
ceived this  morning  in  which  you  say  you  have 
received  the  Marechal's  despatch.  This  message 
I  gave  him,  and  it  still  further  increased  his 
anxiety,  for  he  is  of  opinion  that  the  letter 
brought  him  by  the  King's  valet-de-chambre 
was  written  without  your  knowledge.  And  this 
prevents  him  from  departing  without  having 
heard  from  you.  For  this  reason  I  entreat  of 
you  to  tell  him  what  to  do  and  to  remember 
the  promise  which  you  and  I  made  when  we 
invited  him  to  come  here,  namely  that  we  would 
send  him  back  to  the  same  place  and  to  the  same 
command  that  he  held  previously.  Whereas 
the  letter  from  his  Majesty  would  indicate 
that  he  has  other  designs.  In  case  this  despatch 
should  find  you  on  the  road  [i.e.  probably,  on 
his  return  journey,  he  already  having  parted 
from  the  King],  I  entreat  you,  my  Lord,  to  send 
some  messenger  to  their  Majesties." 

We  may  conclude  from  Margaret's  letter  that 
the  Duke  was  either  ignorant  of  Henry's  treachery 
towards  Damville  or  that  he  preferred  to  keep 
silence  on  the  matter.  But  it  is  clear  that  had 
the    Marechal    remained    in    captivity   at    Turin 

299 


Margaret  of  France 

both  the  Duke  and  the  Duchess  would  have 
broken  faith  with  him.  Accordingly,  with  Mar- 
garet's connivance,  Damville  escaped  from  Turin 
and  reached  his  province  in  safety.1 

But  we  must  return  to  the  conclusion  of  Henry's 
visit  to  Turin.  So  much  feasting  in  the  heat  of 
August  would  seem  to  have  wrought  disaster 
among  the  King's  hosts.  His  cousin  the  Prince 
of  Piedmont  fell  sick  of  a  fever,  and  the  Duke 
succumbed  to  an  attack  of  his  chronic  malady. 
When  Henry  departed,  Emmanuel  Philibert  was 
too  ill  to  mount  a  horse.  But  he  insisted  on 
accompanying  his  guest  as  far  as  Lyon  and  on 
being  carried  in  a  litter  at  the  head  of  the  body 
of  Piedmontese  troops  which  were  to  escort  the 
King  across  the  Alps,  in  order  to  protect  him 
from  the  hostility  of  the  Protestant  mountaineers. 
With  the  Waldensian  peasants  the  monarch  who 
had  defeated  their  co-religionists  at  Jarnac  and 
at  Moncontour  was  by  no  means  a  persona  grata. 
Indeed  Protestants  all  the  world  over  would  have 
considered  it  a  virtuous  deed  to  deprive  France  of 
her  new  monarch. 

Thus,  barely  had  the  Piedmontese  escort  quitted 

1  For  the  above  narrative  the  writer  is  chiefly  indebted  to 
Francois  de  Crue's  Le  Parti  des  Politiques  (pp.  239  et  seq.).  But 
Margaret's  letter  of  the  12th  of  September,  which  throws  such 
a  vivid  light  on  the  situation,  seems  to  have  been  unknown  to  the 
author  of  this  work. 

300 


Last  Years 

the  King  at  the  little  Bridge  of  Beauvoisin — 
so  named  by  some  early  Count  of  Savoy  out  of 
compliment  to  the  King  of  France,  his  "  fine 
neighbour  "  or  beau  voisin — when  the  Protestants 
of  Dauphine  attacked  the  royal  company,  pil- 
laging the  King's  waggons  and  capturing  his 
horses,  but  failing  to  do  as  they  had  hoped  and 
to  secure  the  royal  person. 

Meanwhile  Catherine  with  eager  impatience 
was  awaiting  the  arrival  of  her  son.  Writing 
to  Margaret  as  early  as  the  8th  of  August,1  she 
said  that  she  was  travelling  by  night  in  all  haste 
to  Lyon  to  meet  the  King. 

Again,  on  the  30th,  she  had  written  how  from 
Margaret's  letter  she  learned  that  four  days 
earlier  the  King  had  left  her.  But  it  was  the 
5th  of  September  before  Henry  and  Catherine 
met  at  Bourgoin,  whither  the  Queen  Mother 
had  come  out  from  Lyon  to  meet  her  son. 

The  Duchess  of  Savoy  was  expected  to  speedily 
follow  her  husband  and  her  nephew  and  to  join 
the  French  court  at  Lyon,  which  town  Henry  and 
the  Duke  had  entered  on  the  6th  of  September. 
Catherine  had  written  that  she  was  counting  the 
days  until  her  sister-in-law's  arrival.  "  I  will 
secure  apartments  for  you  and  your  ladies  and 
servants,"  wrote  the  Queen,  "  the  same  that 
you  had  before  if  they  were  to  your  liking ;  if 
not,  tell  me  and  I  will  procure  you  lodging  where- 

1  Lettres,  C.  de  Medicis,  V,  p.  80. 
301 


Margaret  of  France 

soever  you  please.  Only  think,  Madame,  I 
already  rejoice,  and  next  to  seeing  the  King, 
to  see  you  will  be  a  refuge  from  all  those  griefs 
and  misfortunes,  from  which,  since  I  had  the 
happiness  of  meeting  you  last,  I  have  so  greatly 
suffered."  1 

But  Margaret's  eagerly  looked  for  visit  to 
Lyon  was  never  to  take  place.  She  was  detained 
at  Turin  by  the  illness  of  her  son.  Emmanuel 
Philibert  had  been  hearing  constantly  from  his 
wife  as  to  the  progress  of  his  son's  illness.  But 
in  one  of  those  letters  written  on  the  12th  of 
September,2  from  the  Prince's  bedside,  Margaret 
mentioned  that  she  herself  "  had  not  been  as 
well  as  she  could  wish."  "  But  now,  thank  God," 
she  adds  reassuringly,  "  I  am  better."  Her 
indisposition  had  been  but  a  little  fever,  so  she 
said,  and  she  regretted  it  chiefly  because  it  had 
kept  her  from  her  son.  But  the  Duchess  must 
then  have  been  much  worse  than  she  wished  her 
husband  to  think.  For,  two  days  later,  unable 
to  put  pen  to  paper,  she  was  forced  to  dictate 
the  letter,  which  was  the  last  she  ever  composed. 
With  her  habitual  courage  and  consideration 
for  others  Margaret  still  made  light  of  her  illness. 

"My  Lord,"  ran  the  missive,  "  I  received  your 
letter  by  the  gentleman  who  is  the  bearer  of  this. 

1  Lettres,  C.  de  Medicis,  V,  p.  80. 

2  The  same  in  which  she  wrote  of  Damville.    Ante  p.  298. 

302 


Last  Years 

And  I  pray  you  to  excuse  my  replying  with  my  own 
hand  because  of  a  slight  fever  from  which  I  am 
suffering.  The  doctors  here  are  communicating 
with  yours  as  to  our  son's  illness  and  I  depend  on 
them  to  tell  all  necessary  details.  My  sickness 
would  be  nothing  did  it  not  keep  me  from  my 
son.  Hoping  nevertheless  that  all  will  go  well 
with  the  help  of  Our  Lord,  whom  I  pray,  after 
commending  myself  humbly  to  your  good  grace, 
to  give  you,  my  Lord,  good  health  and  a  very 
long  and  happy  life. 

"  From  Turin,  this  12th  day  of  September,  '74. 

"  Your  very  humble  and  obedient  wife, 

"  Margaret  of  France."1 

Two  days  later,  on  September  14th,  the  last 
Sacrament  having  been  administered  to  her  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Turin,  Margaret  died.  In  the 
words  of  an  old  chronicler,  she  turned  her  face  to 
the  wall  and  her  life  went  out  like  a  candle. 

1  "  Monseigneur,  J 'ay  receu  vostre  lettre  par  le  gentilhomme 
present  porteur  et  vous  prie  mexcuser  si  ne  fais  response  de  ma 
main  pour  un  peu  de  fiebvre  qui  mest  survenue.  Ces  medecins 
escripvent  au  Vostre  l'estat  de  l'indisposition  de  nostre  fils  dont 
men  remets  a  eulx.  De  mon  mal  ce  nest  pas  grand  cas  sinon 
quil  me  desplait  ne  me  pouvoir  tenir  aupres  de  lui.  Esperant 
neanmoins  que  tout  passera  bien  aidant  N.S.  lequel  je  prie, 
appres  mes  humbles  recommandations  a  Vostre  bonne  grace 
Vous  donner,  Monseigneur,  en  tres  bonne  sante  trds  longue  et 
heureuse  vie.  De  Turin  ce  xii  de  Settembre,  74. 
"  Vostre  tres  humble 

"et  tres  hobeissante  femme 

"Marguerite  de  frAce." 
Turin  Archives,  Lettere  di  Principi. 

303 


Margaret  of  France 


Unobtrusively  and  courageously  as  she  had 
lived,  so  she  died.  The  great  object  of  her  later 
years  had  been  accomplished  :  she  had  freed  her 
adopted  land  from  the  foreigner.  And  now, 
worn  out  by  the  fatigues  and  anxieties  of  past 
weeks,  she  was  tired.  She  had  yearned  for  peace 
and  now  peace  lapped  her  round.  Such  an  end 
she  would  have  desired — to  escape  a  long  illness 
causing  anxiety  to  her  friends.  Her  sickness 
had  been  so  sudden  that  there  had  been  no  time 
to  summon  relatives  from  a  distance  to  her  bed- 
side.   She  had  been  spared 

"  the  whispering  crowded  room, 
The  friends  who  come,  and  gape,  and  go." 

The  last  sad  parting  with  her  husband  she 
might  have  dreaded.  But  he  did  not  return  until 
three  days  after  her  death.  And  then,  as  she 
would  have  wished,  he  went  straight  to  the 
twelve  year  old  motherless  boy,  whose  fever 
was  then  abating.1 

Margaret,  according  to  modern  ideas,  died 
young,  at  the  age  of  one  and  fifty.  But  it  was 
not  young  for  the  period  in  which  she  lived  j 
for  in  those  days  few  lived  so  long.  The  average 
Renaissance  woman,  whose  married  life  began 
at  fifteen,  was  worn  out  at  fifty.     Then  as  now 

1  See  letter  from  Emmanuel  Philibert  to  Nemours,  dated  the 
23rd  of  September,  1574,  where  the  Duke  thanks  God  for  having 
restored  his  son,  who  had  been  in  great  extremity  (Bib.  Nat., 
F.F.  3236,  Fo.  59). 

304 


Last  Years 

men  lived  shorter  lives  than  women.  And  in 
that  troubled  and  insanitary  period,  so  many 
were  the  adverse  chances  of  war,  disease,  poison, 
assassination  and  other  accidents,  that  few  lived 
to  die  in  their  beds  of  old  age.  Indeed,  as  Mon- 
taigne remarks,  the  so-called  "  natural  death  " 
was  the  most  unnatural.  Montaigne  at  forty 
considered  that  he  had  already  entered  the 
avenues  of  old  age.  Margaret's  contemporaries 
therefore  probably  considered  that  she  had  told 
her  full  tale  of  years.  To  Margaret  was  it  given 
to  live  considerably  longer  than  her  mother, 
Queen  Claude,  and  than  her  maternal  grand- 
mother, Anne  of  Brittany.  The  latter  into  her 
brief  span  of  thirty-seven  years  packed  no  less 
than  three  marriages  with  three  great  princes ; 
her  first  husband  was  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  to 
whom  she  was  married  by  proxy,  her  second  King 
Charles  VIII  of  France,  and  her  third  his  successor 
Louis  XII,  who,  in  order  to  marry  Anne,  and 
unite  to  the  crown  her  great  duchy  of  Brittany, 
divorced  his  poor  little  deformed  wife,  Jeanne. 
The  lives  of  Renaissance  princesses  may  have 
been  brief,  but  they  were  crowded.  A  few  great 
ladies  of  that  age  lived  to  be  old  women.  Among 
such  exceptions  to  the  common  rule  were  Queen 
Elizabeth,  Queen  Margot,  Renee  of  France  and 
Diana  of  Poitiers,  who  all  died  over  sixty.  But 
those  who  died  in  the  fifties  were  much  more 
numerous. 

x  305 


I 


Margaret  of  France 

On  the  whole,  and  considering  the  period  in 
which  she  lived,  Margaret's  life  had  been  a  happy 
one.  Her  early  years  had  been  tenderly  guarded 
by  her  aunt  of  Angouleme.  At  her  brother's 
court,  the  friend  and  patroness  of  poets  and 
scholars,  she  held  just  that  position  which  she 
most  desired.  Her  husband,  while  no  more 
inconstant  than  most  husbands  of  that  time, 
was  ever  her  affectionate  comrade  and  friend. 
And  to  Margaret  was  it  granted  to  realise  the 
ardent  wish  of  the  Duke  and  of  his  subjects  and 
to  bear  an  heir  to  the  dominions  of  Savoy.  More- 
over to  her  was  it  given  to  receive  one  of  the 
most  precious  of  gifts  which  any  fairy  godmother 
can  bestow  on  a  child  at  its  birth  :  the  gift  of  a 
happy  disposition,  which  enabled  her  to  sail 
serenely,  with  unruffled  brow  through  all  the 
tempests  and  tumults  of  that  troubled  time. 

Margaret  was  buried  in  the  Cathedral  Church 
of  St.  John  at  Turin.  The  ceremony  was  attended 
with  the  usual  pomps,  described  at  length  in 
documents  preserved  in  the  Turin  State  Archives. 
Three  orations  were  pronounced  in  her  honour — 
at  Turin,  by  Angelo  Giustiniani,  Bishop  of 
Geneva,  at  Lyon  by  Charles  Pascal,  and  at  Paris, 
in  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  by  Antoine 
Sorbin. 

A  magnificent  monument  was  erected  to  Mar- 
garet in  the  most  ancient  burial-place  of  the 
House    of    Savoy,    the    Abbey    of   Hautecombe, 

306 


Last  Years 

built  on  a  noble  rock  overhanging  Lake  Bourget 
and  almost  facing  Aix-les-Bains.  The  Abbey 
dates  from  the  twelfth  century  when  Count 
Amadeus  III  of  Savoy  granted  the  land  to  St. 
Bernard.  To-day  the  gleaming  white  towers  of 
the  monastery  rising  above  the  lake  cannot 
fail  to  arrest  the  admiring  glance  of  the  traveller 
as  the  train  whizzes  him  along  the  opposite  bank. 
But  on  closer  acquaintance  the  visitor  who 
travels  out  from  Aix  to  visit  this  famous  spot, 
discovers  these  towers  to  be  comparatively  new 
and  so  painfully  ornate  as  to  suggest  the  Victorian 
Gothic  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott.  Indeed  since  Mar- 
garet's day  the  Abbey  has  undergone  so  many 
changes  that  little  now  remains  of  the  old 
building  and  nothing  of  the  monument  to 
Margaret. 

At  the  French  Revolution  the  monastic  build- 
ings were  seized  by  the  government.  And  all  the 
most  valuable  marbles  were  either  removed  at 
once  or  put  up  for  sale.  Left  in  an  unprotected 
condition  and  exposed  to  all  the  fury  of  the 
tempests  surging  across  the  lake  and  through 
the  mountain  gorges,  the  roof  of  the  Abbey  fell 
in,  and  the  church  with  its  remaining  tombs 
became  a  ruin.  The  poet,  Alphonse  de  Lamartine, 
writing  in  1849,  refers  to  it  as  a  pyramid  of  black 
ruins.1      Later    it   was    restored   by   the   princes 

1  "  En  face  l'Abbaye  d'Hautecombe  pyramidait  en  noir 
devant  nous." 

307 


Margaret  of  France 

of  Savoy,  who  however  have  long  since  ceased 
to  use  it  as  a  burying-place.1 

The  history  of  Hautecombe  explains  why 
the  traveller  may  there  ask  in  vain  for  the 
stately  mausoleum  once  erected  to  Margaret 
of  France.  He  will  probably  be  referred  to  the 
glorious  tomb  of  another  Margaret  2  at  Brou. 
For  even  the  name  of  our  Margaret  appears 
to  be  unknown  in  the  place  which  once  sheltered 
so  glorious  a  monument  to  her  memory.  Of 
that  monument  we  have  a  detailed  description 
in  Guichenon's  History  of  Savoy.3  And  there 
we  may  read  that  beneath  a  bronze  medallion 
of  the  Duchess  were  four  crowns  of  olive,  oak, 
laurel  and  palm  with  the  words  :  his  summam 
meruit  ccelo.  Guichenon  has  also  preserved  the 
Latin  inscription  and  the  French  sonnet  by  Baccio 
del  Bene,  which  were  engraved  on  a  tablet  of 
bronze.     The  former  ran  : 

"  D.  0.  M.  [et]  Margaretce  a  Francia  Eman. 
Phil.  Allobrogum  ducis  conjugi,  integerrimce  Bar- 
tholomeus  Delbene  patricius  florentinus  Domince 
sucb   benegnissimce   cujus  prudentia   et  liberalitate 

1  The  descendants  of  the  Dukes  of  Savoy,  the  Kings  of  Sardinia, 
were  buried  in  the  Superga  at  Turin ;  their  yet  more  recent 
descendants,  the  Kings  of  Italy,  find  their  last  resting-place  on 
the  Capitol  at  Rome. 

2  Margaret  of  Austria,  daughter  of  Maximilian  and  wife  of 
an  earlier  Duke  Philibert  of  Savoy.  See  Matthew  Arnold's 
poem  on  her  tomb  at  Brou. 

3  Vol.  I,  pp.  700-701. 

308 


Last  Years 

pluribus  animi  et  fortunce  bonis  ornatus  et  auctus 
fuit  ut  tanti  beneficii  memoria  posteris  alicunde 
innotesceret  parum  fidens  de  carniinis  a  se  com- 
positi  diuturnitate  incidi  curavit  et  posuit.  Anno 
salutis  christians  1576  post  Kalendas  novembres.1 

In  del  Bene's  sonnet  to  Margaret  are  to  be 
found  perhaps  the  most  graceful  of  all  the  many 
verses  inspired  by  her  death  : 

"  Si  la  vertu  etait  chose  mortelle 
Qui  comme  nous  un  corps  frele  eut  vetu, 
J'oserais  dire  :   '  Ici  gyt  la  vertu, 
L'honneur,  les  arts  enterres  avec  elle.' 

"  Sans  la  nommer,  assez  l'on  connait  celle 
Qui  a  toujour  le  vice  combattu 
Et  ce  qui  a  par  la  France  abattu 
L'Hidre  a  cent  chefs  qu'ignorance  on  appelle. 

"  Mais  si  vertu  n'est  sujete  au  tombeau 
Ainsi  que  nous  :  ains  luit  comme  un  flambeau 
Volant  au  ciel,  quand  la  terre  elle  quitte. 

"  Ceux  qui  de  nuit  en  haut  levent  les  yeux, 
Voyant  reluire  un  nouvel  astre  aux  cieux, 
Diront  que  c'est  l'astre  de  Marguerite." 

Ronsard  had  been  Margaret's  poet  laureate. 
And  he  was  still  adored  as  "  the  prince  of  poets." 
But  from  his  lyre  much  of  its  early  sweetness 
had  departed  ;  and  in  somewhat  frigid  lines  he 
mourned  the  death  of  his  benefactress  : 

"  77  ne  restoit  plus  Hen  du  germe  tout  divin 
Du  premier  Roy  Franpis  {car  dejd  le  Destin 

1  Nov.  2nd. 
309 


Margaret  of  France 

Et  la  cruelle  Parque  en  avoient  fail  leur  proye) 
Que  Marguerite  seule,  honneur  de  la  Savoye, 
Celeste  fleur-de-lis,  quand  le  sort  envieux, 
Pour  appauvrir  le  tnonde,  en  enrichit  les  cieux."  1 

Had  Du  Bellay  been  alive  he  would  have 
lamented  his  mistress  in  tones  tenderer  and  more 
personal. 

After  her  husband,  she  who  most  deeply 
mourned  Margaret  was  Catherine.  It  may  be 
difficult  to  feel  pity  for  anyone  who  caused 
so  much  suffering  to  her  fellow-creatures  as  did 
Catherine.  Yet  we  must  in  some  compassion  admit 
that  the  Queen  Mother  was  now  a  lonely  woman, 
dreaded  by  her  children  and  mistrusted  by  her 
subjects.  Had  Margaret  been  at  her  side  during 
the  troubled  years  which  followed  King  Henry's 
death,  perhaps  the  course  of  French  history 
might  have  been  different.  For,  if  anyone  could 
influence  the  Queen  Mother,  it  was  her  sister-in-law. 
She  and  Margaret  had  been  close  friends  from 
childhood  j  and  to  their  reunion  at  Lyon  Catherine, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  been  eagerly  looking  for- 
ward. 

The  Queen's  letter  to  Emmanuel  Philibert 
on  receiving  the  tidings  of  Margaret's  death,2 
by  its  unusual  brevity  and  concision  spoke  of 
the  tempest  of  grief  which  was  surging  in  her 

1  Le  Tombeau  de  Marguerite  de  France,  Duchesse  de  Savoye. 
(Euvres,  VIII,  177. 

2  Lettres,  C.  de  M.(  V,  p.  88. 

310 


Last  Years 

heart.  For  sympathy  in  their  common  sorrow 
Catherine  turned  to  her  aunt,  Renee,  Duchess 
of  Ferrara,  to  whom  on  the  30th  of  September 
she  wrote  : 

"  Madam,  my  Aunt,  I  doubt  not  that  you 
have  felt  the  sorrow  which  has  fallen  upon  us 
all  in  the  loss  of  Madam,  your  niece.  To  me 
it  is  especially  grievous  because  of  the  respect 
and  close  friendship  in  which  I  have  held  her 
ever  since  I  had  the  honour  to  come  into  this 
kingdom.  Had  it  not  been  for  her  my  life  would 
have  been  unbearable.  .  .  .  And  after  the  sorrow 
of  losing  the  late  King,  my  son,  God  showeth  me 
that  he  will  not  take  me  ...  .  and  hath  sent  me 
this  affliction,  to  see  depart  before  me  that  wise 
and  virtuous  princess  with  whom  I  had  been 
nurtured.  In  her,  I  may  say,  I  never  discovered 
towards  me  anything  but  the  most  perfect 
affection.  Now,  Aunt,  I  will  not  further  revive 
the  grief  which  I  know  you  must  have  suffered. 
And  I  beseech  you  to  hold  and  keep  and  preserve 
me  in  your  good  grace. 

"  Your  very  good  niece, 

"  Catherine. 


f/ 


Renee  replied  in  letters  of  condolence  to 
Catherine  and  to  her  daughter,  the  third  Margaret. 
And  these  letters  were  acknowledged  by  the 
latter  in  that  pious  manner  which  this  impious 
person  was  later  to  affect  in  her  famous  Memoirs. 


1  Lettres,  V,  p.  91. 
3" 


Margaret  of  France 

"  Madam,"  wrote  Queen  Margot,1  "it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  tell  you  how  seasonable 
were  the  letters  which,  so  full  of  consolation, 
it  pleased  you  to  write  on  the  death  of  the  late 
Madame  de  Savoye.  Greatly  did  they  alleviate 
the  natural  sorrow  and  extreme  regret  inspired 
by  a  loss  common  to  us  both  and  so  great  that 
it  can  hardly  be  expressed.  Being  both  of  us  in 
the  same  affliction  and  having  need  of  consolation, 
meseemeth  Madam  that  we  can  nowhere  seek  it 
better  than  in  Him  who  comforteth  the  sorrowing 
hearts  of  those  whom  he  trieth  with  affliction, 
and  who,  disposing  of  us  according  to  his  good 
pleasure,  desireth  that  we  should  conform  to  his 
will. 

"  And  now,  Madam,  seeing  that  you  know 
far  better  than  I  can  tell  you  all  things  appertain- 
ing to  the  patience  necessary  for  the  bearing  of 
so  great  a  sorrow,  I  will  write  no  more  save  to 
thank  you  humbly  for  having  thought  of  me  and 
sent  me  consolation  at  a  moment  when  I  so  greatly 
needed  it.  Assuring  you  that  I  am  ever  obliged 
to  you  and  ever  disposed  to  render  you  humble 
service.  Meanwhile,  Madam,  I  pray  to  God, 
after  having  humbly  commended  myself  to  your 
good  grace,  that  he  will  give  you  in  good  health,  a 
very  happy  and  long  life.  From  Lyon,  this  four- 
teenth day  of  October,  1574. 

"  Your  humble  niece, 

"  Marguerite."  2 

1  She  had  married  Henry,  King  of  Navarre,  two  years  earlier. 

2  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3236,  Fo.  631°. 


312 


Last  Years 

Emmanuel  Philibert  grieved  deeply  over  his 
wife's  death.  On  the  23rd  of  September,  he 
wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Nemours  : 

"  Cousin,  since  the  grief  which  I  know  you 
must  have  felt  at  the  loss  of  so  good  a  friend 
and  kinswoman  as  was  Madam,  my  late  wife, 
must  make  you  understand  how  great  a  sorrow 
reigns  in  my  heart,  it  seemeth  unnecessary  for 
me  to  say  more  in  this  letter,  and  in  truth  I  cannot 
express  to  you  the  smallest  part  of  what  I  feel."  1 

During  the  six  years  of  life  that  remained 
to  him  the  Duke  tenderly  cherished  his  wife's 
memory.  After  her  death  he  completely  changed 
his  manner  of  life,  living  chiefly  in  private. 

Having  insisted  on  the  ratification  of  Margaret's 
last  political  act,  the  Treaty  of  Turin,  by  which 
Henry  had  undertaken  to  cede  the  three  French 
fortresses,  the  Duke  withdrew  from  his  capital 
to  his  farms  of  La  Venerie  and  La  Vigne  Royale, 
where  he  lived  the  life  of  a  pious  country  gentle- 
man. He  still  kept  in  his  hands  the  threads  of 
all  matters  of  foreign  policy,  but  the  immediate 
direction  of  other  state  affairs  he  left  to  his 
ministers.  He  died  in  1580,  leaving  as  his  successor 
Margaret's  son,  Charles  Emmanuel  I,  who  was 
then  eighteen. 

Among  the  many  memorials  of  Emmanuel 
Philibert  in  the  state  archives  of  Turin,   there 

1  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3236,  Fo.  59.  The  letter,  which  is  dictated,  is 
quoted  by  Roger  Peyre,  op,  cit.,  p.  101. 

?*3 


Margaret  of  France 

is  a  tiny  manuscript  book,  bound  in  thread- 
bare black  velvet  and  tied  with  rusty  black 
ribbon,  one  of  those  Tombeaux  of  which  we 
have  spoken  previously.  This  one,  dedicated 
to  Margaret's  son,  Charles  Emmanuel,  extols, 
in  French  and  in  Latin  verse,  the  virtues  and  the 
noble  deeds  of  her  husband.  Accompanying  the 
verses  is  the  picture  of  a  tomb,  at  the  head  of 
which  stands  a  woman  with  bright  yellow  hair, 
wearing  a  black  robe  and  holding  in  her  left 
hand  a  trumpet  with  a  banner,  bearing  the  cross 
of  Savoy,  while  in  her  right  are  two  crowns,  one 
of  olive  to  indicate  that  the  Duke  had  a  pacific 
temperament,  the  other  of  laurel  to  recall  that 
in  its  despite  he  won  victories  in  war.  Alike 
illustration  and  verses  are  a  crude  almost  childish 
performance,  greatly  inferior  in  merit  to  Le  Tom- 
beau  de  Marguerite  d'  Angouleme  or  even  to  the 
many  Tombeaux  consecrated  to  the  memory  of 
her  niece,  our  Margaret.  Here  is  no  Denisot's 
pencil,  no  Ronsard's  muse.  And  yet,  treasured 
as  it  has  been  through  so  many  centuries  by  the 
Princes  of  Savoy,  this  little  book  appeals  to  us  as 
a  precious  relic  of  their  great  ancestor,  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  the  second  founder  of  Savoy. 

The  death  of  the  Duchess  had  resulted  in 
a  weakening  of  the  union  between  France  and 
Savoy.  But,  as  long  as  Emmanuel  Philibert 
lived,  the  alliance  was  not  openly  broken.  On  the 
accession  of   Charles   Emmanuel,    however,    the 

314 


Last  Years 


/ 


two  states  became  definitely  hostile.  The  new 
Duke  was  restless  and  ambitious.  He  reverted 
to  his  grandfather's  policy  and  allied  himself 
with  Spain,  having  married  Catherine,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Philip  II  and  Elizabeth  of  France. 

In  1589,  on  the  assassination  of  his  cousin, 
Henry  III,  Charles  Emmanuel  laid  claim  to  the 
crown  of  France.  Some  years  later  Henry  IV 
retorted  by  claiming  the  duchy  of  Saluzzo  and 
invading  Savoy.  But  in  160 1,  the  princes  came 
to  terms ;  the  Duke  of  Savoy  ceded  a  considerable 
part  of  his  territory  north  of  the  Alps  while  the  King 
of  France  finally  renounced  all  claim  to  Saluzzo. 

Henceforth  Margaret's  son  adopted  the  policy, 
inaugurated  by  his  parents,  and  concentrated 
his  boundless  ambition  upon  the  extension  of 
Savoy  in  Italy.  His  successors  followed  his 
example.  From  every  European  war,  no  matter 
how  remote  the  combatants  might  be,  the  Dukes 
of  Savoy,  becoming  first  Kings  of  Sicily  then 
Kings  of  Sardinia,  reaped  some  advantage,  ac- 
quiring one  by  one  the  towns  of  Lombardy, 
stripping  it  leaf  by  leaf  as  the  saying  goes,  and 
finally  turning  to  their  own  account  the  republican 
movements  of  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi,  until,  in 
1861,  Margaret's  descendant,  Victor  Emmanuel 
II,  was  proclaimed  by  Garibaldi  himself  King 
of  the  Italian  Peninsula.  Building  wiser  than  she 
knew,  Margaret  of  France  was  yet  one  of  the 
makers  of  Italy. 

315 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX    A 

TWO    OF    MARGARET'S    AUTOGRAPH 
LETTERS 

"  J  Mon  pere,  vous  entendistes  hier  par  les  lettres 
des  medecins  l'amendement  de  madame  ma  petite 
niepce  ou  elle  continue  graces  a  Dieu,  ainsy  que  vous 
dira  encores  Batisses  present  porteur,  sur  lequel  je 
remets  le  surplus  de  cest  affaire  et  des  aultres  nouvelles 
de  pardeca,  et  me  suffit,  mon  pere,  de  vous  remercyer 
de  la  bonne  volonte  qu'il  vous  plaist  tousjous  me  porter, 
comme  vous  aves  faict  en  l'occasion  qui  s'est  presentee 
de  faire  trouver  bon  au  Roy  le  sejour  que  j'ay  faict 
icy,  scaichant  certainement  que  c'est  a  vous  a  qui 
je  doy  le  contentement  qu'il  a  de  moy  et  que  si  peu 
que  j'ay  fait  pardeca  pour  madame  ma  niepce  a  este 
si  bien  remonstre  de  vostre  part  que  le  remercyment 
que  le  roy  et  la  Royne  m'en  font  est  plus  que  n'ay  merite, 
dont  je  me  sentiroys  plus  obligee,  n'estoyt  que  je 
m'asseure  que  vous  feres  tousjours  pour  moy  comme 
pour  vostre  fille.  Mon  pere,  vous  me  feistes  donner 
avant  vostre  partement  de  ce  lieu  la  confiscation  de 
Tillon  l'ung  de  mes  gentilshommes,  contre  lequel  le 
lieutenant  Girat  qui  est  a  la  court  a  informe.  Touteffois, 
pour  ce  que  il  n'est  si  fort  charge  que  sa  faulte  ne  soit 
remissible,  ainsy  que  vous  entendres  par  ce  porteur,  je 
vous  prye,  mon  pere,  suyvant  ce  qu'il  vous  dira,  demander 
pour  moy  au  Roy  sa  grace  en  pardon,  car  je  l'ay  nourry 
jeune  en  ma  maison,  ou  je  le  tiens  encores  pour  le  pre- 
sent,  et   en   attendant   que   vous   en   puisse   remercyer 

1  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3152,  Fo.  46. 
3i9 


Margaret  of  France 


plus  amplement,  je  me  recommande  bien  fort  a  vostre 
bonne  grace  priant  Dieu,  mon  pere,  vous  maintenir 
en  la  sienne. 

"  Vostre  milieure  fille  et  cousine 

"  Marguerite  de  France. 

"A  mon  cousin  monsieur  le  due  de  Monmorency 
"  Connestable  de  France." 

Madame,1  vous  voires  par  les  laitres  que  vous  escrivent 
les  medesins  comme  madame  vostre  petite  fille  continue 
an  son  amendement ;  quan  a  mon  jeugement  j'espere 
madame,  puis  que  l'onsieme  nuit  est  pasee  sans  re- 
doublement,  que  la  catorsieme  fera  de  mesme,  nous 
avons  bien  aucasion  de  louer  Dieu,  quant  a  moy,  il 
ne  s'en  faut  guere  que  je  ne  le  remersie  d'avec  bon 
cueur  que  quant  il  vous  guerit  a  Ginville  ;  madame,  je 
ne  veullx  oublier  a  vous  dire  que  au  son  plus  grand  mal 
elle  set  tousjours  souvenue  du  Roy  et  ne  vouloit  boire 
qu'an  la  coupe  que  luy  a  balle  son  mari.  J 'ay  esperance 
mes  que  j'aye  l'eur  de  vous  voir  de  vous  feres  de  bon- 
contes  de  ce  qu'elle  disoit,  car  toute  malade  elle  estoit 
an  ce  courousant  la  plus  jolie  du  monde.  Ancepandant, 
madame,  je  vous  supliray  me  tenir  an  la  bonne  grace 
du  Roy  et  de  vous  tres  humblement  recommande, 
priant  Dieu,  madame,  vous  donner  ce  que  desires. 

"  Vostre  tres  humble  et  tres  aubeysante  seur 

et  sugete  Marguerite  de  France.2 
"A  la  Royne." 

Although  neither  of  these  letters  is  dated,  we  may 
assume  that  they  were  written  between  1552  and  1559, 
that  is  between  Queen  Catherine's  illness  at  Joinville 
(Ginville)  alluded  to  in  the  second  letter,  and  which 
took  place  in  1552,   and  Margaret's  marriage  in  1559. 

1  Bib.  Nat.,  F.F.  3152,  Fo.  32. 

2  For  the  translations  of  these  letters  see  ante  pp.  76  and  jj. 

320 


Two  of  Margaret's  Autograph  Letters 

For  after  the  latter  event  Margaret,  absorbed  in  the 
affairs  of  her  husband's  principality,  cannot  have  had 
leisure  to  nurse  her  brother's  children. 

But  the  date  of  these  letters  we  may  still  further 
approximate,  and  with  considerable  certainty  assign 
both  of  them  to  the  year  1556. 

Since  1548,  Mary  Stuart,  Queen  of  Scots,  had  re- 
sided at  the  French  court,  where  she  was  regarded 
as  the  promised  wife  of  Margaret's  nephew,  the  Dauphin 
Francis,  who  is  often  described  as  the  husband  of  Mary 
(son  mart). 

The  character  of  the  malady  described  by  Margaret 
in  these  letters  closely  resembles  that  of  a  fever  which 
attacked  Mary  at  Fontainebleau  in  the  autumn  of  1556, 
according  to  two  letters  1  written  by  her  uncle  Charles, 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  to  her  mother,  Mary  of  Guise, 
Regent  of  Scotland. 

It  is  unlikely  that  the  Madame  ma  niesce  of  Margaret's 
letters  can  have  been  either  of  Henry  II's  own  daughters, 
Elizabeth,  Claude  or  Margaret.  Elizabeth,  the  eldest, 
was  not  betrothed  to  Philip  of  Spain  until  1559.  Then 
all  the  arrangements  for  betrothal  and  marriage  were 
made  and  carried  out  in  a  few  months,  between  January 
and  June  ;  and  there  is  no  record  of  Elizabeth  being 
ill  and  separated  from  her  mother  during  that  time  or 
during  the  subsequent  interval  of  five  months,  June  to 
November,  which  elapsed  before  her  final  departure 
for  Spain.  Neither  is  it  likely  that  madame  ma  niesce 
was  Henry's  second  daughter  Claude.  She  had  been 
promised  as  bride   to  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  in   1552, 

1  Cited  by  J.  H.  Pollen  in  Papal  Negotiations  with  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots.  (Publications  of  the  Scottish  History  Society,  Vol. 
XXXVII,  S.J.,  p.  419.) 

y  321 


Margaret  of  France 

although  she  was  not  married  to  him  until  early  in  1559  ; 
but  the  arrangement  of  1552  cannot  have  been  regarded 
as  very  decisive,  for  subsequently  several  other  alliances 
were  proposed  for  this  princess,  and,  as  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  was  never,  before  1559, 
described  as  Claude's  husband.  With  regard  to  Henry's 
youngest  daughter,  the  third  Margaret,  born  in  1553,  she 
was  only  six  at  her  father's  death,  in  1559,  and  no 
husband  had  then  been  definitely  chosen  for  her. 

We  are  therefore  driven  back  on  the  hypothesis 1 
that  madame  ma  niesce  was  Mary  Stuart.  And  our 
conclusion  is  supported  by  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine's 
letters.  From  the  first  of  these  letters,  written  from 
Paris,  on  the  19th  of  August,  1556,  we  learn  that  Mary 
was  being  carefully  nursed  by  the  Queen  and  the  Queen's 
sister,  who  could  only  be  Margaret ;  from  the  second, 
written  also  from  Paris  on  the  2nd  of  October,  1556, 
that  as  Mary  grew  better  she  was  removed  from  Fon- 
tainebleau  to  Meudon,  the  Cardinal's  palace,  because 
the  air  was  purer  there.  And  it  requires  no  very  wide 
stretch  of  imagination  to  conclude  that  Margaret,  who 
was  already  nursing  her  niece  at  Fontainebleau,  was 
deputed  to  attend  her  to  Meudon,  and  that  thence  she 
wrote  two  undated  letters,  one  to  the  Constable  and 
the  other  to  Catherine,  telling  of  her  patient's  progress 
towards  recovery. 

1  First  suggested  to  me  by  Miss  Jane  Stoddart,  author  of 
The  Girlhood  of  Mary  Stuart,  a  valuable  work  which  no  student 
of  this  period  can  afford  to  neglect. 


322 


APPENDIX    B 

THE   HISTORY  OF  THE  SEYMOUR   SISTERS 

AUTHORESSES  OF  "LE  TOMBEAU  DE 

MARGUERITE  DE  VALOIS  " 

WITH  no  little  interest  must  our  Margaret 
have  followed  the  careers  of  the  English 
maidens  whose  admiration  for  her  aunt 
had  found  such  learned  expression  in 
Le  Tombeau.  And  for  our  readers  too  it  may  be  not 
uninteresting  to  trace  the  romantic  histories  of  two 
at  least  of  these  sisters. 

In  childhood  the  girls  were  the  playmates  of  their 
royal  cousin,  Prince  Edward,1  afterwards  Edward  VI, 
whose  studies  they  may  have  shared.  At  any  rate  that 
the  Prince  and  his  fair  cousins  were  alike  educated 
in  the  true  Renaissance  atmosphere  of  art  and  of  learning 
is  proved  by  a  Latin  letter  from  Margaret  and  Jane  to 
Edward  after  his  accession,  which  still  exists.  We  may 
quote  a  translation  of  the  letter  here,  for  in  its  spirit 
of  extravagant  laudation  and  servile  gratitude,  and 
in  its  artificial  copy-book  style,  it  is  an  excellent  specimen 
of  the  kind  of  letter  expected  from  children  of  the  day. 
One  suspects  the  French  tutor  of  the  Seymour  sisters, 
Nicolas  Denisot,  of  having  a  hand  in  this  correspondence. 
One  wonders  if  the  children  of  those  days  never  wrote 

1  His  mother,  Jane  Seymour,  was  their  father's  sister. 

323 


Margaret  of  France 


natural  and  childlike  letters.  If  they  did,  it  is  curious 
that  they  should  all  have  perished.  This  letter  to  the 
King  was  no  doubt  regarded  as  a  wonderful  performance. 

"  It  cannot  be  expressed,  O  !  king  most  serene," 
runs  the  letter,  "  with  what  hope  and  joy  that  literary 
gift  which  we  have  received  from  your  highness  had 
overflowed  our  spirit,  and  what  a  sharp  spur  we  find 
it  to  be,  in  order  to  embrace  those  things  and  to  cleave 
with  all  labour  and  sedulousness  to  those  studies,  wherein 
we  know  your  highness  to  take  so  much  delight  and 
to  be  so  deeply  learned  ;  wherein  we  also,  whom  your 
highness  wishes  to  see  best  instructed,  hope  to  make 
some  advancement.  And  these  present  tokens  of  your 
singular  goodwill,  which  no  power  of  words  can  do 
justice  to,  show  plainly  how  many  thanks  are  due  from 
us,  more  than  many  others  to  your  Majesty  :  should 
we  attempt  any  act  or  expression  of  thanks,  your  deserts, 
always  proceeding  more  and  more  in  perpetual  vicissitude, 
would  not  only  seem  to  press  upon  us  but  would  certainly 
oppress  us,  especially  as  we  have  nothing,  nay  we  our- 
selves are  nothing,  which  we  do  not  justly  owe  to  your 
highness.  Wherefore  while  freed  to  fly  to  your  clemency, 
we  yet  doubt  not  that  a  prince  of  such  heavenly  kindness, 
who  has  loaded  us  with  so  many  and  so  great  benefits, 
will  add  also  this  one,  that  he  will  not  think  that  those 
things  are  bestowed  upon  ungrateful  persons  which 
belong  to  a  grateful  spirit.  Whereof  these  letters  which 
are  wont  to  be  substitute  for  the  absent,  will  be  but 
a  faint  proof  ;  while  we  pray  for  all  happiness  to  your 
highness,  with  a  long  continuance  thereof. 

"  The  most  devoted  servants  to  your  Majesty, 

"  Margaret  Seymour, 
"  Jane  Seymour."  1 

1  See  M.  A.  Everett  Green,  Letters  of  Royal  and  Illustrious 
Ladies,  Vol.  II,  pp.  199-200  (1846). 

324 


The  History  of  the  Seymour  Sisters 

One  of  the  writers  of  this  letter,  the  second  sister, 
Margaret,  was  so  fortunate  as  to  die  soon  after  the 
publication  of  Le  Tombeau,  and  thus  to  escape  those 
misfortunes  which  were  shortly  to  fall  upon  her  house. 
For,  in  1552,  her  father,  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  perished 
on  the  scaffold,  after  having  been  twice  imprisoned 
in  the  Tower.    Her  mother  too  suffered  imprisonment. 

But,  on  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  in  gratitude 
for  kindness  which  Somerset  had  shown  to  the  Princess 
during  his  Protectorate,  the  Duchess  of  Somerset  was 
released,  and  the  Queen  granted  her  some  lands,  per- 
mitting her  and  her  family  to  hold  their  Protestant 
faith  unmolested. 

The  Duchess's  daughters,  at  the  time  of  their  father's 
imprisonment,  were  residing  at  one  of  these  stately 
palaces  erected  by  the  Protector,  Sion  House.  On 
their  mother's  arrest,  they  were  subjected  to  a  severe 
examination,  together  with  the  whole  household,  in 
reference  to  the  jewels  of  the  Duchess,  of  which  apparently 
they  had  been  robbed  by  some  of  their  servants.  Deprived 
of  both  their  parents,  the  sisters  were,  by  order  of  the 
Royal  Council,  consigned  to  the  care  of  their  aunt  Eliza- 
beth, Lady  Cromwell,1  daughter-in-law  of  Henry  VIII's 
famous  minister.  Life  with  Lady  Cromwell  can  have 
been  anything  but  pleasant  for  the  Seymour  sisters. 
They  were  received  grudgingly  by  their  aunt,  who 
complained  that  with  two  families  to  care  for,  one  by 
her  first  husband,  Sir  Anthony  Oughtred  and  another 
by  her  present  spouse,  Lord  Cromwell,  she  already  had 
too  many  children  to  look  after.  Indeed,  almost  im- 
mediately on  their  arrival  Lady  Cromwell  wrote  pro- 
testing against  the  charge  committed  to  her  and  com- 

1  Elizabeth   Seymour,    daughter   of   Sir   John   Seymour   and 
sister  of  Queen  Jane  Seymour  and  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset. 

325 


Margaret  of  France 

plaining  that  her  nieces  refuse  to  take  her  advice,  and 
insist  on  being  their  own  guides.1 

By  this  time  Anne,  the  eldest  of  the  sisters,  was  married, 
having  in  1549  been  united  to  John  Dudley,  Lord  Lisle, 
eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  afterwards  Duke  of 
Northumberland.  The  wedding,  which  was  celebrated 
at  the  royal  palace  of  Shene  (now  Richmond)  with 
magnificent  entertainments,  is  described  by  the  bride's 
cousin,  Edward  VI,  in  his  diary.2 

Under  the  date  of  the  3rd  of  June,  1549,  we  rea-d  : 

"  The  King  came  to  Schein,  where  was  a  mariag 
mad  betwen  the  L.  Lisle  th'  erl  of  Warwick's  sone  and 
the  ladi  Anne,  daughter  to  the  duke  of  Somerset ;  wich 
don  and  a  faire  diner  made,  and  daunsing  finished, 
the  king  and  the  ladies  went  into  tow  chambers  mad 
of  bowis,  wher  first  he  saw  six  gentlemen  of  on(e)  side, 
and  six  of  another,  rune  the  course  of  the  fild  twis  over. 
There  names  hiere  do  follow  : 

"  The  L.  Edward  and  Sir  Jhon  Apleby.3  Last  of 
all  came  the  count  of  Ragonne  w*  3  Italians,  who  ran 
with  al  the  gentlemen  fowre  courses,  and  afterwards 
fought  at  tornay.  And  so  after  souper  we  returned  to 
Werestminster. " 

For  Anne  Seymour  and  her  husband  and  for  many 
another  guest  at  that  Shene  wedding,  the  brightness 
of  the  marriage-day  was  soon  to  be  overcast.  We  have 
seen  how  the  clouds,  which  were  then  gathering,  broke 
over   the   house   of   Seymour.4     The   family   of   Anne's 

1  Letter  from  Lady  Cromwell  to  Sir  William  Cecil,  quoted  by 
St.  Maur,  Annals  of  the  Seymours,  p.  396. 

2  The  MS  is  in  the  Cottonian  Library  at  the  British  Museum. 
It  has  been  printed  more  than  once,  and  may  be  found  in  J.  G. 
Nichols's  Literary  Remains  of  Edward  VI.     Vol.  II,  pp.  273  et  seq. 

3  Other  names  seem  to  have  been  omitted. 

4  The  marriage  was  intended  to  seal  the  reconciliation  between 
Somerset  and  Warwick,  after  Warwick's  first  attack  upon  the 
former.    But  the  alliance  was  no  sooner  made  than  it  was  broken. 

326 


The  History  of  the  Seymour  Sisters 

husband  superseded  that  of  her  father  in  power.  The 
Earl  of  Warwick  became  Duke  of  Northumberland 
and  Lord  Protector,  while  his  son,  John  Dudley,  assumed 
the  earldom  of  Warwick.  But  not  for  long  were  father 
and  son  to  occupy  that  pinnacle  of  power. 

On  Edward's  death,  Northumberland,  having  pro- 
claimed his  daughter-in-law,  Lady  Jane  Grey,  Queen 
of  England,  was  with  his  son  the  Earl  of  Warwick, 
taken  prisoner  at  Cambridge.  While  his  father  and 
brother,  Lord  Guildford  Dudley,  husband  of  Lady  Jane 
Grey,  were  executed  on  Tower  Hill,  Anne's  husband, 
with  two  other  brothers,1  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  ; 
and  Anne  was  only  occasionally  permitted  to  visit 
her  husband  in  prison. 

Broken  in  health  and  ruined  in  fortune,  Warwick, 
after  more  than  a  year's  imprisonment,  was  released 
on  the  18th  of  October,  1554,  and  sought  a  refuge  with 
his  brother-in-law,  Sir  Henry  Sidney  at  Penshurst. 
There  he  died  ten  days  after  he  had  regained  his  freedom, 
leaving  Anne  a  childless  widow.  In  the  following  year 
she  followed  her  mother's  example  and  married  beneath 
her.  Her  second  husband  was  Sir  Edward  Unton, 
a  country  gentleman  of  Berkshire,  by  whom  she  had 
seven  children,  one  of  whom,  Sir  Henry  Unton,  became 
a  famous  diplomatist.  The  terrible  tragedies  through 
which  Anne  Seymour  had  passed  affected  her  mind,2 
and  for  the  rest  of  her  long  life  she  was  subject  to  attacks 
of  lunacy.  She  died  in  1587,  and  was  buried  in  the 
church  of  Farringdon.  Her  funeral  sermon,  preached 
by  Dr.  Bartholomew  Chamberlaine,  a  famous  divine  of 

1  One  of  them  was  Robert,  afterwards  Elizabeth's  famous 
favourite,  the  Earl  of  Leicester. 

8  For  an  inquiry  into  Lady  Warwick's  lunacy,  see  Collins's 
Letters  and  Memorials  of  State  (1746),  p.  297. 

327 


Margaret  of  France 


that  day,1  may  be  read  by  any  who  attach  importance 
to  such  utterances,  in  the  British  Museum  to-day. 

Lady  Warwick's  sister  Jane  never  married.  In  child- 
hood she  had  been  one  of  the  numerous  brides  destined 
for  her  cousin,  Edward  VI.  Elizabeth,  on  her  accession, 
took  Jane  Seymour,  who  had  been  a  companion  of  her 
girlhood,  into  high  favour  and  made  her  lady-in-waiting. 
But  Jane  did  not  long  enjoy  this  good  fortune,  for 
she  died  in  1561.  She  was  buried  in  St.  Benedict's 
Chapel  in  Westminster  Abbey.  And  the  Queen  would 
seem  to  have  wished  to  atone  for  the  misfortunes  of  the 
House  of  Seymour  by  giving  its  daughter  a  grand  funeral. 
With  great  ceremony  her  corpse  was  brought  from  the 
Queen's  armoury  to  the  Abbey  church,  attended  by 
all  the  choir  of  the  said  Abbey,  by  two  hundred  of  the 
court  and  by  sixty  mourners.2  The  Bishop  of  Peter- 
borough preached  her  funeral  sermon,  and  to  her  memory 
her  brother  erected  a  monument  of  black  marble  and 
alabaster,  bearing  a  laudatory  Latin  inscription,  which 
on  the  rare  occasions,  when  the  light  is  good  enough, 
may  be  read  to  this  day. 

For  the  fortunes  of  two  persons  at  the  court  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  the  death  of  Jane  Seymour  could  not  have 
occurred  at  a  more  disastrous  moment.  To  explain  why 
this  was  so  it  is  necessary  to  relate  one  of  the  most 
romantic  episodes  of  this  by  no  means  commonplace 
century.     Some   months  before   her   death   Elizabeth's 

1  See  British  Museum  :  A  sermon  preached  at  Farington  in 
Berkeshire,  the  seventeene  of  Februaire,  1587,  at  the  buriall  of  the 
right  Honorable  the  Ladie  Anne,  Countess  of  Warwicke,  daughter 
to  the  Duke  of  Sommerset  his  grace,  and  widowe  of  the  right  worship- 
full  Sir  Edward  Umpton  knight.  By  Bartholomew  Chamberlaine, 
Doctor  of  Divinite  (London).  Printed  by  John  Wolfe,  and  are 
to  be  sold  at  his  shop  at  the  broad  south  dore  of  Paules.     1 591 . 

2  Annals  of  the  House  of  Seymour,  p.  394. 

328 


The  History  of  the  Seymour  Sisters 

maid  of  honour  had  contrived  a  secret  marriage  between 
her  brother,  Edward  Seymour,  and  Lady  Jane  Grey's 
sister,  Lady  Catherine  Grey,  who,  as  great-grand- 
daughter of  Henry  VII,1  was  heir  to  the  crown.  The 
young  people  had  first  become  attached  to  each  other 
during  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  when  Catherine  Grey 
had  resided  with  the  Duchess  of  Somerset  at  her  house 
at  Hanworth.  And  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  they 
hoped  to  obtain  the  Queen's  consent  to  their  marriage 
through  the  mediation  of  Catherine's  mother,  the  Duchess 
of  Suffolk,  who  favoured  the  match.  But  the  Duchess 
died  in  1559.  And,  despairing  of  ever  gaining  the  Queen's 
consent,  the  young  couple  were  secretly  married. 

One  day  towards  the  end  of  1560,  taking  advantage 
of  the  Queen's  absence  on  a  hunting  expedition  at 
Eltham,  Catherine  and  Jane,  who  had  obtained  per- 
mission to  remain  behind,  slipped  out  of  Whitehall 
and  made  their  way  to  Seymour's  house  in 
Cannon  Row.  That  the  marriage  should  take  place 
at  once  was  quickly  arranged  between  them.  And 
Jane  was  sent  in  search  of  a  certain  Protestant  clergy- 
man, lately  come  from  Germany,  who  was  easily  found, 
for  he  had  no  doubt  been  told  to  hold  himself  in  readiness. 
In  the  Earl's  room,  with  Jane  as  the  only  witness,  the 
marriage  was  duly  celebrated  between  the  heir  to  the 
English  throne  and  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  English 
nobility.  Then  the  bride  and  bridesmaid  returned  to 
the  palace  and  resumed  their  duties  about  the  Queen 
as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

In  the  following  June,   Seymour  went  to  Paris  with 


1  She  was  the  granddaughter  of  Henry  VI IPs  sister  Mary, 
who  married,  as  her  second  husband,  Charles  Brandon,  Duke 
of  Suffolk.  According  to  Henry  VIII's  will,  after  Elizabeth, 
Catherine  was  the  next  heir  to  the  crown. 

329 


Margaret  of  France 


a  tutor  and  Mr.  Thomas   Cecil,  afterwards  Marquis  of 
Exeter,  to  study  the  French  language. 

And,  during  his  absence,  the  Lady  Catherine  con- 
fided a  secret,  which  she  would  not  long  be  able  to 
conceal,  to  a  lady  of  the  court,  Mistress  Saintlow,  who 
was  afterwards  to  become  Countess  of  Shrewsbury, 
and  to  be  known  as  the  famous  Bess  of  Hardwicke. 
The  news  told  to  Mistress  Saintlow  soon  spread ;  it 
reached  the  Queen's  ears,  and  Catherine  found  herself 
in  the  Tower.  For  not  long  before  a  scheme  had  been 
laid  by  King  Philip  for  carrying  off  Catherine  and  raising 
her  claim  to  the  English  crown  on  the  ground  that 
Elizabeth  was  illegitimate.  And  the  Queen  made  sure 
that  this  secret  marriage  was  but  part  of  the  Spanish 
plot.  So  she  had  Catherine  subjected  to  the  severest 
cross-examination  ;  and  when  Seymour,  gallantly  hurry- 
ing over  from  France  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  his  wife's 
imprisonment,  reached  London,  he  too  was  shut  up 
in  the  Tower,  but  with  strict  orders  from  the  Queen 
to  the  lieutenant  that  the  young  couple  were  on  no 
account  to  be  permitted  to  meet. 

On  the  24th  of  September  Lady  Catherine  gave  birth 
to  a  son,  Edward,  Lord  Beauchamp.  This  news  roused 
Elizabeth  to  fury.  For  one  of  her  ladies  to  marry  at  all 
was  not  pleasant  to  the  spinster  queen,  for  one  to  marry 
without  her  consent  was  insolent,  but,  for  one  having 
thus  secretly  married,  to  become  a  mother,  was  criminal, 
and  tenfold  more  criminal  when  the  child  born  was 
the  Queen's  potential  successor.  So  from  the  moment 
she  heard  the  news  Elizabeth  determined  to  establish 
the  infant's  illegitimacy.  And  with  this  purpose  she 
appointed  a  commission,  with  Archbishop  Parker  at 
its  head,  to  judge  of  Catherine's  "  infamous  conver- 
sation "  and  "  pretended  marriage."  The  proceedings 
were  hustled    through  in   a   high-handed   manner,  and 

330 


The  History  of  the  Seymour  Sisters 

the  accused  were  given  but  a  few  hours  to  produce 
witnesses  for  the  defence.  Catherine  and  her  husband 
were  examined  separately  in  the  Tower ;  but  their 
evidence  agreed  on  all  essential  points.  There  was 
only  one  weak  point  in  their  defence,  but  that  one 
point  was  vital.  Where  were  the  witnesses  to  the  mar- 
riage ?  The  Protestant  clergyman  could  not  be  found  : 
he  probably  took  care  to  keep  out  of  the  way  ;  and 
considering  the  Queen's  temper,  he  was  wise  to  do  so. 
And  the  only  other  witness  rested  in  Westminster  Abbey  : 
Jane  Seymour  had  not  lived  to  see  the  fruit  of  the 
marriage  which  was  her  handiwork.  Consequently,  no 
witnesses  of  the  ceremony  being  forthcoming,  on  the 
12th  of  May,  1562,  the  commission  declared  that  there 
had  been  no  marriage. 

The  remainder  of  Catherine's  life  was  dragged  out  in 
captivity.  She  and  her  husband,  confined  for  most 
of  the  time  in  separate  prisons,  suffered  all  the  fury 
of  the  Queen's  vindictiveness,  until,  worn  out  with 
grief,  after  seven  years'  imprisonment,  the  Lady  Catherine 
died  on  the  27th  of  January,  1568.  After  his  wife's 
death  the  rigour  of  Seymour's  captivity  was  relaxed  ; 
and,  in  1571,  he  was  set  at  liberty.  But  all  her  life 
Elizabeth  persisted  in  regarding  his  son  as  illegitimate. 
Although,  after  Catherine's  death,  Seymour  twice  mar- 
ried, he  continued  to  the  end  to  cherish  the  memory  of 
his  first  wife,  and  gave  instructions  that  his  remains 
should  be  laid  by  her  side  in  Salisbury  Cathedral,  in 
the  nave  of  which  to  this  day  may  be  seen  a  stately 
monument  to  their  memory.1 

1  This  story  must  inevitably  suggest  that  of  Mdlle  de  Rohan, 
told  earlier  in  this  volume :  and  one  cannot  fail  to  contrast  the 
brave  loyalty  of  Edward  Seymour  with  the  cowardly  faithless- 
ness displayed  in  very  similar  circumstances  by  the  Duke  of 
Nemours. 

33i 


APPENDIX    C 

THE  ADVENTUROUS  CAREER  OF  NICOLAS 
DENISOT,  EDITOR  OF  "  LE  TOMBEAU  DE 
MARGUERITE      DE      VALOIS,"      1515  -  1559 

THE  life  of  Nicolas  Denisot,1  the  editor  of 
Le  Tombeau,  is  no  less  interesting  than  that 
of  his  pupils.  Born  at  Le  Mans  in  1515, 
Denisot  was  the  son  of  a  distinguished 
advocate,  Jean  Denisot,  and  may  have  been  of 
English  descent.  Renowned  in  later  life  as  both  poet 
and  artist,  we  know  not  whether  it  was  with  pencil 
or  with  pen  that  Nicolas  produced  his  earliest  works. 
But,  in  1539,  we  nnd  mm  helping  to  execute  a  cele- 
brated map  of  his  native  province  of  Maine,  and  six 
years  later  publishing  a  volume  of  poems,  entitled, 
Noels  par  le  conte  d'Alsinoys,  presentes  a  Mademoiselle  sa 
Valentine.  The  ten  Noels  or  carols  of  this  volume 2 
are  of  no  great  excellence,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
following  specimen  : 

"  Chantons  tous,  je  vous  en  prie, 
En  ce  temps  devotieux, 
Chantons  un  chant  glorieux, 
Delaissons  melancolie  : 
Chantons ! 

1  See  l'Abbe  Clement  Juge,  Nicolas  Denisot  du  Mans  and  B. 
Haureau,  Histoire  LitUraire  du  Maine,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  251  et  seq. 

2  Reprinted  at  Le  Mans  by  Ad.  Lasnier  in  1847. 

332 


The  Career  of  Nicolas  Denisot 

Car  la  princesse  des  cieux 
Produit  l'enfant  precieux 
Le  digne  et  saint  fruit  de  vie  ; 
Chantons ! 

Le  dragon  est  souffreteux 
Le  lion  baisse  les  yeux 
Par  cette  vierge  Marie  ; 
Chantons ! 

Anges  en  l'air  gracieux, 
En  leur  chants  harmonieux 
Ont  gringote  leur  partie  : 
Chantons ! 

"  Et  les  pasteurs,  curieux 
Voir  l'enfant  delicieux, 
Sont  sortis  de  la  prairie  ; 
Chantons ! 

"  Je  m'en  allai  avec  eux, 
En  menant  de  coeur  joyeux, 
Ma  Valentine  jolie  ; 
Chantons !  " 

The  pseudonym  of  Conte  d'Alsinoys  adopted  by  the 
author  of  these  poems  was  one  of  those  anagrams  then 
so  much  the  vogue.  That  of  Denisot  produced  a  famous 
comment  from  Francis  I,  who  remarked :  "  This  county 
of  Alsinoys  can  produce  no  very  great  revenue  since 
it  is  only  six  nuts  (six  nois)  ;  and  from  Montaigne,  who 
wrote  x  that  Denisot  has  transposed  the  letters  of  his 
name  in  order  to  construct  a  county  of  Alsinoys,  which 
he  has  endowed  with  the  glory  of  his  poetry  and  of  his 
painting." 

Possibly  by  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  Les  Noels 
Denisot  was  already  at  court.     The  date  of  his  going 
1  On  names,  Essays,  Book  I,  Chap.  XLVI. 
333 


Margaret  of  France 


there  is  uncertain.  But  we  know  that  he  received  an 
appointment  in  the  King's  household  and  that  he  was 
admitted  to  the  select  circle  of  the  two  Margarets,  with 
the  elder  of  whom  he  is  said  to  have  collaborated  in 
the  composition  of  the  Heptameron. 

In  the  last  years  of  Francis  I,  Denisot,  the  friend  of 
Ronsard  and  of  the  other  writers  who  were  later  to 
group  themselves  into  La  Brigade  and  La  Pleiade, 
was  regarded  as  one  of  the  new  poets.1  But  shortly 
after  the  death  of  the  King,  for  some  mysterious  reason, 
he  abruptly  left  Paris,  and  crossed  the  Channel  to  Lon- 
don, it  is  vaguely  hinted  following  a  great  lady,  whose 
affections  he  had  won.  And  in  truth  the  young  artist's 
good  looks,  fine  attire  and  distinguished  manners  never 
failed  to  ingratiate  him  with  the  fair  sex,  to  whom, 
as  we  shall  see,  he  was  to  be  greatly  indebted. 

Arriving  in  London  shortly  after  the  death  of  Henry 
VIII,  Denisot  obtained  an  introduction  at  court  by 
writing  six  hundred  and  twenty-nine  lines  deploring 
the  death  of  the  King,  and  at  the  same  time  congratu- 
lating his  successor.  The  manuscript  of  this  tedious 
poem  in  Denisot's  own  beautiful  handwriting  and 
artistically  gilt  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 

As  the  result  of  his  reception  at  court,  the  Frenchman 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Lord  Protector  of  the 
Realm,  the  King's  uncle,  Edward  Seymour,  Duke  of 
Somerset,  who,  doubtless  on  the  strength  of  Denisot's 
learning    and    accomplishments 2    and    of    his    English 

1  In  the  works  of  Ronsard  and  his  school  are  several  flattering 
allusions  to  the  poems  and  to  the  pictures  of  Denisot. 

2  Somerset  himself  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  gentle- 
men of  the  Renaissance,  being  a  good  Latin  and  French  scholar, 
with  a  fair  knowledge  of  German  and  a  passionate  interest  in 
theology.  In  theological  discussions  he  was  able  to  hold  his  own 
with  the  most  learned  divines  of  his  day. 

334 


The  Career  of  Nicolas  Denisot 

descent  and  Puritanical  leanings,  betrayed  by  a  pre- 
ference— very  extraordinary  in  those  days — "  for  spring 
water  to  the  mellow  grape,"  appointed  him  tutor  to 
his  three  daughters,  Anne,  Margaret  and  Jane. 

According  to  Ronsard's  Ode  addressed  to  the  three 
Seymour  sisters,1  Denisot  remained  in  England,  revealing 

to  his  pupils 

"  les  beaux  secrets 
Des  vieux  Latins  et  des  Grecs  " 

for  the  space  of  three  years.  Then,  in  1549,  his  connection 
with  the  noble  house  of  Seymour  came  to  a  sudden 
end.  His  departure  from  England  was  as  mysterious 
as  his  coming  had  been.  Did  his  employer's  imprison- 
ment in  that  year  suggest  to  the  French  tutor  that  he 
would  be  safer  in  his  native  land  ?  Or  was  it  some 
deed  of  Denisot's  own  that  occasioned  his  flight  ?  We 
suspect  the  latter  ;  for,  according  to  Dr.  Wotton,  the 
English  ambassador  in  France,  Denisot  was  about 
that  time  falsifying  letters  and  forwarding  to  the  French 
King  plans  of  English  harbours.2 

1  Denisot  se  vante  heure 

D 'avoir  oublye  sa  terre 

Quelquesfois  et  demeure 

Trois  ans  en  vostre  Angleterre, 

De  pres  voyant  le  Soleil 

Quant  il  se  panche  au  sommeil 

Plonger  au  seing  de  vostre  onde 

La  lampe  de  tout  le  monde. 
Aux  trois  Sceurs,  Anne,  Marguerite,  Jane  de  Seymour,  Princesses 
(sic)  Angloises,  Ode  par  Pierre  de  Ronsard   Vandomois.     In  Le 
Tombeau  de  Marguerite  de  Valois. 

%  Cat.  St.  Papers,  For.,  1547-53,  p.  15.  The  person  here  men- 
tioned under  the  date  of  March,  1547,  is  described  as  Nicholas  ; 
but  since  he  is  a  painter  and  a  Frenchman,  we  may  presume 
that  he  was  Nicholas  Denisot. 

335 


Margaret  of  France 


On  his  return  to  France,  Denisot  was  well  rewarded 
by  his  King  and  admitted  to  the  Privy  Chamber. 

In  France  he  continued  his  profitable  profession  of 
spy.1  For,  in  1556,  he  went  to  Calais,  nominally  as 
tutor  to  the  Governor's  children,  but  really  commissioned 
by  the  King  to  draw  up  plans,  which  might  serve  to 
capture  the  city  from  the  English. 

Now  Denisot  entered  on  a  series  of  romantic  adven- 
tures, which  would  doubtless  have  landed  him  on  the 
scaffold,  had  it  not  been  his  good  fortune  to  find  favour 
with  the  fair  sex. 

When  his  plan  of  Calais  was  drawn  up,  Denisot, 
by  his  nephew,  Charles  Langlois,  Sieur  du  Vivier,  who 
had  accompanied  his  uncle  to  Calais,  despatched  a 
copy  of  it  to  the  King.  The  messenger  arrived  safely 
and  placed  this  all-important  document  in  the  King's 
hands.  But  meanwhile  a  hint  as  to  Denisot's  real  em- 
ployment in  Calais  had  reached  the  ever-watchful 
English  ambassador,  Dr.  Wotton,  at  Paris.  The  am- 
bassador transmitted  his  suspicions  to  England,  and 
orders  were  given  for  the  arrest  of  the  Governor's  tutor. 
Then  followed  the  oft-repeated  romance  of  the  hand- 
some prisoner  and  the  susceptible  gaoler's  daughter. 
Denisot,  believing  that  if  he  were  once  brought  to  trial 
he  would  be  sure  of  condemnation,  paid  his  addresses 
to  the  daughter  of  the  governor  of  the  prison.  And 
she,  won  by  his  blandishments,  undid  his  prison  door, 
and  permitted  him  to  take  the  road  to  Paris. 

But  the  spy's  adventures  were  not  yet  over.  Barely 
had  he  travelled  ten  miles  from  Calais,  when,  pursued 

1  Cal.  St.  Papers,  For.,  1547-53.  Mary,  p.  167.  There  is  no 
question  here  as  to  the  identity  of  Nicholas,  although  he  is  called 
Nicolas  Devisat,  for  he  is  described  as  formerly  teacher   to   the 

Duke  of  Somerset's  children. 

336 


The  Career  of  Nicolas  Denisot 

by  English  soldiers,  he  was  on  the  point  of  being  re- 
captured. Then  he  turned  into  a  farm  by  the  wayside, 
and  there  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  find  only  a  young 
girl,  the  farmer's  daughter.  Again  Denisot's  attractions 
proved  irresistible  ;  for  they  obtained  for  him  a  hiding- 
place  in  a  haystack  ;  and  the  soldiers  departed,  having 
searched  in  vain  the  house  and  its  premises.  For  days 
Denisot  was  secretly  fed  by  the  hand  of  his  benefactress. 
Then,  making  an  excuse  to  go  to  market  at  the  neigh- 
bouring town  of  Ardres,  the  damsel  got  into  communica- 
tion with  the  French  Governor  of  the  town,  and  told 
him  that  the  notorious  Frenchman  who  had  escaped 
from  Calais  was  in  a  haystack  on  her  father's  farm. 
The  Governor  sent  her  back  with  money  for  Denisot 
and  with  a  company  of  troops,  under  the  protection 
of  whom  the  fugitive  ventured  to  come  forth  from  con- 
cealment. Then  he  proceeded  to  Boulogne,  where 
he  arrived  without  further  adventure. 

In  January,  1557,  he  was  at  court,  discussing  with 
the  King  the  plans  of  Calais  and  the  possibility  of  taking 
the  town.  Whether  the  plan  drawn  up  by  Denisot 
was  that  actually  used  by  the  Duke  of  Guise  when  a 
year  later  he  captured  the  English  port  has  been 
frequently  contested.  Four  great  personages  have  in 
turn  been  represented  as  the  inventors  of  that  military 
operation  which  the  Duke  of  Guise  so  brilliantly  carried 
out.  Francois  de  Noailles,  French  ambassador  to  England 
claimed  that  he,  with  the  help  of  Senarpont,  Governor 
of  Boulogne,  who  entered  Calais  in  disguise,  had  first 
conceived  the  design  and  suggested  it  to  the  King. 
Brantome  asserts  that  it  was  Gaspard  de  Coligny,  Ad- 
miral of  France,  who  caused  the  fortifications  of  the 
port  to  be  inspected,  and  that  plan  of  them  to  be  executed 

z  337 


Margaret  of  France 


which  was  finally  used  by  the  captor  of  the  town.  Other 
authorities  assign  the  credit  of  conceiving  the  enter- 
prise to  the  Constable,  Anne  de  Montmorency.  But 
the  biographer  of  Denisot,  Abbe  Clement  Juge,  after 
having  carefully  examined  these  rival  claims,  concludes 
that  there  is  no  longer  any  doubt  that  the  idea  of  taking 
Calais  originated  in  the  mind  of  Henry  II,  and  was 
proved  to  be  realisable  by  the  observations  of  the  King's 
agent,  Nicolas  Denisot.  And  it  is  on  his  connection 
with  the  capture  of  Calais,  far  more  than  on  his  literary 
or  even  on  his  artistic  achievements  that  the  fame  of 
Denisot  will  rest. 

He  did  not  long  survive  the  monarch,  whom  he  had 
so  ably  served.  He  seems  to  have  resided  at  Boulogne 
until  the  taking  of  Calais,  in  January,  1558,  when  he 
returned  to  Paris,  and  wrote  verses,  dwelling  sadly 
upon  the  sorrows  of  life.  His  melancholy  was  intensified 
by  the  tragic  death  of  his  master,  King  Henry. 

On  the  death  of  his  wife,  Denisot  determined  to  show 
his  gratitude  to  the  farmer's  daughter  by  marrying  her. 
But  some  time  in  the  autumn  of  1559  death  interfered 
with  this  design.  He  passed  away  at  his  house  in  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Marceau,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  Saint  Etienne  du  Mont. 


338 


APPENDIX    D 

LETTER  FROM  PHILIP  OF  SAVOY,  LORD 
OF  RACCONIGI,  TO  EMANUEL  PHILIBERT, 
SHOWING  THE  PART  PLAYED  BY  MAR- 
GARET IN  THE  PACIFICATION  OF  THE 
WALDENSES.1 

"3  Maggio  1561.    da  Racconigi. 

"  Serenissimo  Prencipe. 

"  L'  istesso  giorno,  ch'  io  scrissi  a  V.  Al.  furono  da  me, 
circa  le  doe  hore,  di  notte,  tri  d'  Angrognia,  Alii  quali 
feci  intendere  quel  tanto  che  si  conveneva  seguendo 
P  ordine  di  V.  Al.  Furono  molto  Attenti  nel  udirmi 
massime  dechiarandoli  la  Pia  opera,  che  per  loro  haveva 
fato  la  serenissima  Madama.  II  tutto  inteso,  ringratiorno 
la  Maesta  Divina,  che  tanto  bene  luoro  fosse  concesso 
di  hauer  gratia  appresso  S.  Al.  et  esortandoli  io  di  continuo 
di  vegnir  et  ridursi  a  P  obbedienza,  di  Doi  tali  clemen- 
tissimi  Prencipi  ne  feccero  segno  grandissimo  d'  Allegrezza 
et  vedendo  la  lettera  di  Madama  si  messero  in  stato  di 
adorarla  e  rimasti  con  satisfatione  grande. 


"  Da  Raconis  Alii  in  di  maggio  M.D.  LXJ. 

"  Humilissimo  Vassallo  et  servitore 
"  Philippo  Savoye." 
Translation  : — 

"  Illustrious  Prince.     On  the  same  day  that  I  wrote 
to  Your  Highness,  there  came  to  me  about  the  second 

1  Archivio  di  Stato,  Turin.     Savoia  Racconigi,    1537,  1581. 

339 


Margaret  of  France 

hour  of  the  night,  three  men  from  Angrogna  :  and  to 
them  I  explained  as  much  as  seemed  suitable,  according 
to  Your  Highness'  orders.  They  were  most  attentive, 
especially  when  I  informed  them  of  the  good  work  which 
the  Illustrious  Lady  had  done  on  their  behalf.  When 
they  had  heard  all  they  gave  thanks  to  Divine  Providence 
which  had  granted  them  so  great  a  boon  as  to  stand 
well  with  His  Highness.  I  exhorted  them  repeatedly 
to  come  and  yield  obedience  to  two  such  clement  Princes, 
and  they  gave  every  sign  of  the  greatest  pleasure.  When 
they  saw  Madame's  letter,  they  showed  great  respect 
to  it.  And  I  perceived  that  they  were  filled  with  great 
satisfaction. 

"  From  Racconigi  this  in  May,  M.D.  LXI. 

"  Your  Highness'  Most  humble  vassal  and  servant, 

"  Philippo  Savoye." 


340 


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Sainte-Beuve.    Nouveaux  Lundis.    Vol.  XIII,  1872. 
Saint-Gelais.    CEuvres.    Ed.  Blanchemain,  1873. 
Saint-Genis,  Victor  de.    Histoire  de  Savoie,  three  vols.,  1868. 

Etudes  Historiques  sur  la  Savoie,  1869. 

Saint-Maur,  H.    Annals  of  the  Seymours,  1907. 
Savine,  A.    La  Vraie  Reine  Margot,  1908. 

Seymour,  Anne,  Margaret,  and  Jane.    Le  Tombeau  de  Mar- 
guerite de  Valois,  1550. 
Stoddart,  Jane.    The  Girlhood  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  1908. 

347 


Margaret  of  France 


Taillandier.     Nouvelles  Recherches  Historiques  sur  la  Vie  et  les 

Outrages  du  Chancelier  de  V Hospital,  1861. 
Thou,  Jacques  Auguste  de.     Me" moires,  ed.  Michaud  et  Pou- 

joulat,  Nouv.  Collection,  Vols.  I  and  II,  1850.    Histoire  (Trans. 

du  Ryer),  1659. 

Tommaseo,  Niccolo.  Relations  des  Ambassadeurs  Venitiens, 
1838. 

Tonsus,  Joannes,  De  Vita  Emmanuelis  Philiberti,  Albobrogum, 
Ducis  et  Subalpinorum  Principis,  libri  duo,  1596 

Truschet  (Olivier)  et  Hoyau.  Plan  de  Paris  sous  le  rdgne  de 
Henri  II,  1877. 

Unton.  Inventories,  with  a  memoir  of  the  family  of  Unton  by 
John  Gough  Nichols,  printed  for  the  Berksh.  Ashmolean 
Soc,  1841. 

Varillas,  A.    Histoire  de  Henri  Second,  1692. 

Villars,  Francois  de  Boyvin,  Baron  du.  Mimoires,  ed. 
Michaud  et  Poujoulat,  i^re  serie,  Vol.  X,  1838. 

Wood  (afterwards  Everett  Green).  Letters  of  Royal  and  Illus- 
trious Ladies,  1846. 


348 


MANUSCRIPTS    CONSULTED1 

The  Letters  of  Margaret  of  France  in  the  Archlvio  di  Stato 
at  Turin,  in  La  Bibliotheque  Nationale  and  in  Les  Archives  at 
Paris. 

The  Accounts  of  Margaret  in  La  Bibliotheque  Nationale. 

Documents  relating  to  Margaret's  marriage,  to  her  trousseau,  to 
the  payment  of  her  dowry,  to  her  appointment  as  Regent,  to  the 
birth  of  her  son  and  to  her  negotiations  with  the  Waldenses,  in 
the  Archivio  di  Stato  at  Turin. 


1  The  correct  description  of  manuscripts  used  will  be  found  in  the  notes  to  this  volume 
where  references  to  them  occur. 


349 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbeville,  50  n. 

Agen,  xli 

Aix,  234,  262,  307 

Albret,  Henry  d',  31,  5711,  89,  93 

—  Isabeau  d',  56,  93,  102 

—  Jeanne  d',  57  n.,  65  n.,  93,  257, 
275>  277  ;  wedding  of,  89 

Alciati,  jurist,  138,  139 

Alencon,  Charles,  Duke  of,  4  n.1,  30 

—  Francois,  Duke  of,  294 
— Margaret,  Duchess  of.     See  Mar- 
garet of  Angouleme. 

Algiers,  221,  222,  223 

Ali,  the  Renegade.     See  Occhiali. 

Aliscamps,  279 

Allier,  one  of  the  rivers  of  Bourges, 

141 
Alsinois,  Comte  d'.     See  Denisot. 
Alva,  Duke  of,   166,   176,   190,   191, 

193.  -S7,  279 
Amadeus.     See  Savoy. 
Amberger,  Christophe,  289 
Amboise,  12,  13,  41,  67 

—  James  V,  at,  61,  62 

—  Tumult  of,  231 

—  Peace  of  (1563),  273,  277 
Amiens,     defeat     of    Nemours     by 

Emmanuel  Philibert  at  (1554),  168 
Amyot,  37,  75,  138 
Anet,  85 
Angouleme.     See  Charles,  Count  of, 

later    Duke   of   Orleans,    Francis, 

Count  of,  later  Francis  I,  Henry 

of,  Margaret  of. 

—  Hotel  d',  127 

—  Library  at,  36 
Angrogna,  259,  261,  339,  340 
Anne  of  Brittany,  6,  9,  11  n.1,  305 
Anne  d'Este.     See  Este. 
Anne  du  Bourg,  259 
Anne  of  Montmorency.     See  Mont- 
morency. 

Antoine,    Duke   of    Vendome,    later 
King  of  Navarre.     See  Vendome. 

2  A  353 


Antwerp,  207,  208 

Aosta,  Bishop  of,  263 

Appleby,  Sir  John,  326 

Ardres,  337 

Arenes,  La  Rue  des,  at  Bourges,  141 

Ariosto,  Translator  of,  Jean  Pierre  de 

Mesme,  124 
Aristotle,  Margaret  buys  the  Ethics 

of,  xxxvi,  195 ;  discusses  the  Ethics 

of,  37,  214 
Aries,  279 
Arundel,  Lord,  176 
Asti,  the  President  of,  176 
—  town  of,  187,  256,  293,  294 
Asti  in  Villanuova,  187,  253 
Auratus.     See  Daurat,  Jean. 
Auron,  one  of  the  rivers  of  Bourges, 

141 
Avignon,  Margaret  visits  (1559),  219; 

(1564),  278 

Baif,  Antoine  de,   no,  119,  123,  124 

Baltazarino,  289  n.1 

Barguyn,  Francois,  Margaret's  trea- 
surer, 72 

Bartholomew,  St.,  Massacre  of,  viii, 
xl,  235,  273,  280,  281,  282,  289  n.'2, 
290,  294 

Bastille,  the,  295 

Batisses,  Margaret's  courier,  77,  319 

Bayonne,  20,  21,  23  ;  Charles  V  at, 
67  ;  meeting  of  Catherine  and  Alva 
at,  279 

Beatrix  of  Portugal,  Duchess  of 
Savoy,  mother  of  Emmanuel  Phili- 
bert, 158 

Beauchamp,  Edward,  Lord,  330 

Beaune,  85 

Beauvais,  Margaret  at  (1557),  173 

Beauvoisin,  Bridge  of,  30 

Belesbat,  Madame  de,  281,  282 

Belleau,  Remy,  no 

Bena,  siege  of,  163 

Bene,  Alphonso  del,  241 


Index 


Bene,  Baccio  del,  37,  214,  215,  216, 

3oS.  309 
Bernard,  Saint,  307 
Berry,  duchesses  of,  xxxi,  137,  138 

—  Duchy  of,  135,  136,  I37,'i4i,  142, 

143,  144,  214 

—  first  Duke  of,  John   the   Magnifi- 
cent, 136  and  n.~,  137 

—  Margaret    as    Duchess    of.      See 
Margaret  of  France. 

Bethlehem,  Monastery  of,  Margaret's 

residence  at,  236 
Beze,     Theodore     de,     student      at 

Bo  urges,  138 
Bidassoa,  the,  19,  22 
Billon,  Francois  de,  1 16 
Blois,  9,  10,  11,  12,  16,   17,  96,  100, 

168,  213,  214,  215,  290 
Boccaccio,  xxxiv;  his  popularity  at  the 

French  court,  45,  46 
Bochet,  Monsieur  du,  181,  182,  207 
Bogomare,  Margaret's  fool,  216 
Bonnivet,  Admiral,  41,  42 
Bora,  Catherine,  289 
Bordeaux,  23,  24,  25 
Bordillon,    Seigneur    de.        See    La 

Platiere. 
Bouju,  President,  introduces  Ronsard 

to  Margaret,  1 14 
Boulogne,  337,  338 
Bourbon,  Antoine  de.    See  Vendome. 

—  Charles  de,  Constable  of  France,  5 

—  Chateau  of,  at  Moulins,  85 

—  Library  of,  85 

—  Louis  de,   Duke  of  Montpensier, 

43  n. 

—  Marie  de,  56-60 
Bourdeille,  M.  de,  165 
Bourges,  194 

—  Clemence  de,  87 

—  Jean  de,  49  n. 

—  Louis  de  (Burgensis),  49  and  n. 

—  Margaret    encourages     commerce 
of,  141,  142,  143 

—  —  receives  deputation  from,  216, 
217 

resides  at,  136,  137 

holds  a  salon  at,  137 

protects  university  of,  137,  139, 

144,  288 

—  Siege  of,  105,  271 
Bourget,  Lake,  154,  274,  307 
Bourgneuf,  Gate  of  Lyon,  217 


Bourgogne,  Hotel  de,  119 

Bourgoin,  301 

Brandon,  Charles,  Duke  of  Suffolk, 

329  n. 
Brantome,    xxxvii,    12,    27,    29,    41, 

165,  178,  187,  226,^240,  257,  337 

—  visits  Margaret  at  Turin,  284,  2S5 
Bresse,  187,  252 

Briconnet,     Guillaume,     Bishop     of 

Meaux,  14 
Brissac,  Monsieur  de,  20,  21,  25 

—  Madame  de,  20,  21,  25,  46-7,  73 

—  Charles   de   Cosse,    Marechal  de. 
See  Charles. 

Brou,  30S  and  n.2 
Brussels,  186,  190,  197,  207 
Bucy,  La  Rue  de,  117 
Bugey,  1S7,  252 
Bugnicourt,  Seigneur  de,  163 
Buttet,  Marc  Claude  de,  53,  288,  289 

Calabria,  221 

Calais,  Saint,  chapel  of,  10,  1 1 

—  town  of,  185,  336,  337,  338 
Calvin,  xxxiv,  138,  261,  271,  289 
Canuugue,  plain  of,  219 

Cam  bray,  Bishop  of,  1S3 

—  Treaty  of,  21 
Cambridge,  327 
Canillac,  Marquis  of,  xli 
Carle,  Lancelot  de,  120 
Carloix,  Vincent,  127 

Carlos,   Don,    Philip   IPs   son,    177, 

184 
Cassandre,  Ronsard's,  126 
Castellane,  Dr.,  229,  275 
Cateau-Cambresis,    negotiations    at, 

50,  183 

—  Treaty  of,    viii,  ix,   204-47,  248, 

251,  255 
England,  France  and  Scotland 

sign,  185 

Spain  and  Savoy  sign,  187 

unpopularity  of,  in  France,  187 

among    French    soldiers    in 

Piedmont,  188 
welcomed    by   Savoyards    and 

Piedmontese,  188 

—  ■ —  ultimate   effect  of,   on   French 
policy,  188-9 

hostages  for  execution  of,  190 

surrender  of    territory    under, 

209,  210 


354 


Index 


Catherine  of  Austria,  6S  n.2 
Catherine  de  Medicis,    xxxi,  xl,  57, 
69,  72,  76,  80,  116,  172,   191,   196, 

202,  203D.,  214,  229,  235,  237,  251, 

271,  280,  292,  293,  294,  298,  301, 

3J9,  320'  322 

—  marriage  and  early  married   life, 

3.1-4 

—  illness  at  Fontainebleau,  49 
Joinville,  76,  220 

—  progress  through  France  (1548), 
84-9;  (1564-5),  274-9 

—  in  the  Francoise  de  Rohan  Affair, 
93.  98,  99.  100,  10 1,  104,  105 

—  Coronation,  127 

—  Margaret  writes  to,  1 14 

—  at  the  Les  Tournelles  Tourna- 
ment (1559),  200 

—  at  Margaret's  wedding,  205 

—  in  mourning  at  St.  Germain, 
210-11 

—  friendship  for  Emmanuel  Phili- 
bert,  211,  231 

—  writes  to,  about  Margaret,  43  n., 
213,  232,  233,  234 

—  asks  him  for  help  against  Protes- 
tants, 231,  252,  253 

—  writes  to  Margaret,  232,  272,  273, 

274,  301,  3°2 

—  sends  gifts  to  Margaret's  son,  238 

—  godmother  to         ,,  ,,      239 

—  makes  peace  with  Protestants  at 
Amboise,  373 

—  persecutes  Protestants  at  Lyon 
(1564),  277 

—  at  Margaret's  request  saves  1' 
Hospital  from  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  281 

Catherine  of  Spain,  Duchess  of  Savoy, 

315 
Cavalli, Venetian  ambassador,  37,  239 
Cavour,  Italian  minister,  v,  268 

—  Treaty  of  (1561),  267,  268 

Caze,    Milan,     Margaret's    host    at 

Vaize  (1559),  217 
Cecil,  Mr.  Thomas,  later  Marquis  of 

Exeter,  330 

—  Sir  William,  326,  n.1 
Cellini,  Benvenuto,  33 
Cercamp,  175,  177,  179,  182 
Chablais,  149 

Chamberlaine,  Dr.  Bartholomew, 
327,  328  n.1 


Chambery,  210,  274,  288 

—  birthplace  of  Emmanuel  Philibert, 

157 
Chambord,  16,  17,  136 
Chancellor.     See  L'  Hospital,  Michel 

de. 
Chantilly,  17,  68,  191 
Charles  II  of  England,  195  n.s 
Charles  V,   Emperor,  6,   13,  20,  22, 

47,  48,  49  n.,  51,  52,  53,   54,   55, 

57,  71,  85  m,   158,   166,   167,  169 

and  n.,  176,  201  n. ,  225 
Charles  V,  King  of  France,  127  n. 
Charles  VII        ,,      ,,         142 
Charles  VIII      ,,      ,,        4911.,  305 
Charles  IX  ,,      ,,  xl,    143, 

203    n.,    232  n.1,    239,    251,    252, 

274,  276,  278,  279,  290 
Charles,  Count  of  Angouleme,  later 

Duke  of  Orleans,   14,  15,   18,  20, 

21,67 

—  death  of,  50  and  n. 

Charles  de  Cosse,  Marechal  de 
Brissac,  with  the  French  Princes  in 
Spain,  25 

—  Margaret's  playfellow,  26 

—  Brantome'sscandal  touching,  27-9, 

41 

—  Le  bean  Brissac,  26,  92 

—  at  the  siege  of  Perpignan,  27 

—  Governor  of  Piedmont,  27 

—  Orchestra  in  Piedmont,  289  and  n.1 

—  takes  Vercelli,  230  and  n. 

—  (1553)  urges  Margaret  to  marry 
Emmanuel  Philibert,  166 

—  (1558)  Margaret  writes  to,  about 
her  marriage,  182 

—  condemns  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis,  187 

—  disagrees  with  Margaret  about 
French  fortresses  in  Piedmont,  248, 
250 

—  (1560)  resigns  governorship  of 
Piedmont,  250,  251 

—  admitted  to  the  French  Royal 
Council,  252 

—  disabled  by  gout,  273 

—  (1563)  death  of,  251 

Charles  Emmanuel,  Prince  of  Pied- 
mont, birth  of,  237 

—  household  of,  238 

—  baptism  of,  239 

—  rearing  of,  240 


355 


Index 


Charles  Emmanuel,  Prince  of  Pied- 
mont, education  of,  241 

—  (1574)    sent    to    Turin   during  his 
father's  illness,  242 

—  falls  ill,  300,  302,  303,  304 

—  (1580)  succeeds  his  father  as  Duke 
of  Savoy,  313 

—  allies  himself  with  Spain,  315 

—  marries  Philip  IPs  daughter,  315 

—  claims  the  French  crown,  315 

—  makes  war  on  Henry  IV,  315 

—  peace  with  France,  315 

—  adopts  a  purely  Italian  policy,  315 
Charlotte    d'  Esquetot,    wife   of   the 

Marechal  de  Brissac,  27 
Charlotte  of  France,  13-15,  54,  55-90 
Chartier,  Alain,  131 
Chartriere,  Rue,  College  Coqueret  in, 

119 

Chateauroux,  142 

Chatellerault,  214 

Chatillon,  the  Cardinal  de,  85,  2S8 

Chatillon-sur-Loing,  50,  100 

Cher,  one  of  the  rivers  of  Bourges, 

141 
Chevreuse,  Francis  I  at,  70 
Chieri,  187,  253 
Chios,  I.  of,  142 
Chivasso,  187,  253 
Christine,  Duchess  of  Lorraine,  175, 

179,  1S4,  185 
Christine,  Duchess  of  Savoy,  156 
Cicero,  xxxvi,  38 
Claude,  Queen  of  France,   3-14,  25, 

54,  55,  305 
Claude,    Princess,    later   Duchess   of 

Lorraine,   177,  179,  180,  1S2,  194, 

321 
Claudius  of  Turin,  259 
Clement  VII,  Pope,  33,  157 
Clouet,  Francois  (dit  Janet),  215 
Cceur,  Jacques,  141,  142 
Coligny,  Gaspard  de,  50,  84,  85,  100, 

258,  272,  273,  337 

—  negotiates  Truce  of  Vaucelles,  if  9, 

—  commands  in  St.  Quentin,  170 

—  surrenders  to  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
171 

—  hears  from  Montmorency  of  Mar- 
garet's approaching  marriage,  186 

—  assassination  of,  282 

Comedie,    Ancienne,   La  Rue  de  1', 
"7 


Comfort,  La  Rue  Notre  Dame  du,  at 

Lyon,  Louise  Labe's  hotel  in,  86, 

118 
Compiegne,  172 
Conde,  Louis  de  Bourbon,  Prince  de, 

270  n.2,  276 
Conrad  II,  Emperor,  149 
Conrart,  with  Richelieu,  founder  of 

the  Academy,  119 
Constable  of  Castile,  21,  22 

—  of  France.     See  Bourbon,  Charles 
de,  and  Montmorency,  Anne  de. 

Constantinople,  xxxvii,  120,  222,  225, 

226 
Copenhagen,  Library  of,  119 
Coqueret,  College,  119 
Corneille,  Pierre,  86,  196  n. 
Cotton,  translater  of  Monluc,  202 
Coue,  Dame  de.      See  Gabrielle  de 

Binel. 
Court,  Jehan  de,  ill 
Cracow,  291 
Cvivelli,  Cardinal,  239 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  259 

—  Lady.     See  Elizabeth. 

—  Lord,  325 

Cujas,  Jacques  de,  jurist,   139,    141, 

288 
Cypiere,  Seigneur  de.     See  Philibert 

de  Marsilly. 

Dampierre,  Madame  de,  285 
Damville,  Henry  de,  Marechal,  294, 

295,  296,  297,  298,  299,  300 
Dauphine,    Protestants  of,   87,  271, 

301 
Daurat,  Jean,  xxxii,   no,    119,   120, 

124,  128,  129 
Denisot,  Jean,  332 

—  Nicholas,  123,  124,  125,  314,  323, 

332,  333,  334, 335,  336,  337,  33s 
Des  Adrets,  271 
Diane   de   France,    96    n.2,    97    and 

n.2,  164 
Diane  de  Poitiers,  xxxi,  27,  75,  77, 

78,    79,    80,    83,   85,    87-8,    101, 

104,  213,  305 
Dieppe,  59 
Dijon,  85 

Dolet,  Etienne,  86 
Dorothy,  Princess  of  Denmark,  57 
Douglas,  Sir  Robert  of  Lochleven,  58 

—  Lady.     See  Margaret  Erskine. 


356 


Index 


Dreux,  Battle  of  (1562),  271 
Du  Bellay,  Guillaume,  48 

—  Jean,  Cardinal,  132,  133 

—  Joachim,  xxxvii,  109,  no,  123, 
159,  198,  225,  235,  311 

—  publishes  La  Deffence,  no,  128  ; 
r Olive,  128,  130;  verses  to  Mar- 
garet, 126  n.,130,  131,  195;  Les 
Regrets,  132 

—  at  Madame  de  Morel's,  120 

—  satirises  Saint-Gelais,  113 

—  contributes  to  Le  Tombeau  de 
Marguerite  de  Valois,  1 24 

—  Margaret's  admirer,  126 

—  presented  to  her  by  Jean  de  Morel, 
127,  129,  130 

—  in  Rome,  132-3 

—  deafness,  133 

—  grief  at  Margaret's  departure  from 
France,  133-4 

—  writes  to  Morel  about  Margaret, 
129,  134 

—  death  (1560),  134 

Dubesc,     Madame,    later    Countess 

Pancalieri,  238,  285  and  n. 
Due,  Philippa,  97  n.2 
Dudley,  Lord  Guildford,  327 

—  John,  Earl  of  Warwick,  326,  327 

—  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  327  n. 
Dumas,  Alexandre,  author  olLePage 

du  Due  de  Savoie,  178 
Durance,  River,  Margaret  crosses  on 
her  way  to  Nice,  219 


Ecouen,  17,  191 

Edward  VI  of  England,  55,  323, 
325,  326  and  n.2,  328,  334 

Egmont,  Count  von,  190,  191 

Elbceuf,  Marquis  d',  son  of  Claude, 
Duke  of  Guise  97  n.2 

Eleanor  of  Provence,  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, 150 

Eleonore,   Queen,  22-4,  30,  46,  49, 

Elizabeth  of  England,  xxviii,  184, 
185,  294,  305,  328,  329,  330,  331 

—  courted  by  the  Duke  of  Nemours, 

92,  93 

—  proposed  marriage  with  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  166,  167 

—  translates  the  first  Margaret's 
Miroir  de  PAnne  Ptcheresse,  125 


Elizabeth  of  France,  177,  184,   188, 

I91,  1.94,  3IS.  321 

—  marries  Philip  II  by  proxy,    193, 

195.  I97>  212 

—  leaves  Blois  for  Spain,  214 

—  godmother  of  Prince  Charles 
Emmanuel,  239 

Elizabeth,  Lady  Cromwell,  325  and 

n.,  326  n.1 
Eltham,  329 

Emmanuel,  King  of  Portugal,  158 
Emmanuel   Philibert,     vii    and    n., 

viii,    x,   28,   43,    50,  55,   92,    140, 

147.  159,  199,  232,  243 

—  I  as  Prince  of  Piedmont : 

—  (1528),  birth  of,  157;  childhood, 
157-8  ;  camp  life,  158-95 

—  character,  tastes,  and  accom- 
plishments, 159-60  ;  appearance, 
161  ;  religion,  162 

—  resolves  to  reconquer  his  father's 
estates,  162 

—  (1553)  fights  in  the  Spanish  army 
at  Bena,  163  ;  at  Terouenne,  163 

—  commands  imperial  forces  in 
Flanders,  164 

—  captures  Hesdin,  164;  exacts 
heavy  ransoms  from  prisoners, 
165,   169 

—  proposed  matrimonial  alliances 
with  Elizabeth  of  England,  166, 
167  ;  Mary  of  Portugal,  166  ; 
J  uana  of  Spain,  166 

—  prefers  Margaret  of  France,  who 
refuses  him,  166 

—  II,  as  Titular  Duke  of  Savoy  : 

—  (1554)  visits  England,  167 

—  returns  to  the  Netherlands,  167 

—  still  desires  to  marry  Margaret,  167 

—  defeats  Nemours  at  Amiens,  168 

—  defeats  Saint  Andre  at  Givet,  168 

—  (x555)  promised  the  town  of 
Ivrea,  168 

—  (1556)  truce  of  Vaucelles  procures 
him  a  pension  from  Henry  II,  168 

—  reasons  for  his  cupidity,  169 

—  (!557)  renewal  of  war,  170 

—  battle  and  siege  of  St.  Quentin, 
1 70- 1 

—  harshness  towards  his  prisoner 
Montmorency,  172-3 

—  arbiter  between  Hapsburg  and 
Valois,  175 


357 


Index 


Emmanuel  Philibert  II  proposes  to 
marry   Margaret's   niece,    Claude, 

177,  179 

—  previously  betrothed  to  Madeleine 
of  Austria,  177,  179 

—  Dumas'  story  of  his  love  for 
Leona,  178 

—  French  proposal  for  his  marriage 
with  Margaret,  179 

—  receives  Margaret's  picture,  1S0 

—  attempts  to  explain  his  proposal 
to  Claude,  181 

—  fixes  the  ransom  of  his  prisoner 
Montmorency,  183 

—  (3  April,  1559)  Treaty  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis  promises  restoration  of 
dominions  and  marriage  with 
Margaret,  186,   187,  248 

—  Regent  of  the  Netherlands,  192 

—  sets  out  for  his  wedding  at  Paris, 
192,  193 

—  reaches  Paris,  193 

—  at  the  Les  Tournelles  Tournament, 
1 98 

—  wedding  of,  191,  205,  206 

—  sues  for  Du  Bourg's  pardon,  259 

—  returns  to  the  Netherlands,  206 

—  writes  to  L' Hospital,  207 

—  prolongs  his  stay  in  the  Nether- 
lands, 209 

—  returns  to  France,  211 

—  falls  ill  at  Villers-Cotterets,  211 
and  n.2 

—  enters  the  French  Royal  Council, 
211 

—  invests  Francis  II  with  the  order 
of  the  Golden  Fleece,  212 

—  is  present  at  his  coronation,  212 

—  returns  to  Savoy,  212-13 

—  State  entry  into  Lyon  (5  October, 
1559),  212-13 

—  sends  an  escort  to  accompany 
Margaret  to  Nice,  216 

—  meets  Margaret  at  Marseille,  220 

—  attacked  by  the  Corsair  Occhiali, 
221,  223 

—  illness  at  Nice  in  1560,  228 

—  sends  troops  to  fight  against  the 
French  Protestants  (1562),  231 

—  consults  Nostradamus  as  to  the 
sex  of  his  expected  child,  234,  236 

—  birth  of  his  son,  Charles  Em- 
manuel, 237 


Emmanuel  Philibert  II,  education  of 
his  son,  241 

—  seriously  ill  at  Rivoli(i563),  242 

—  his  affection  for  Margaret,  243 

—  his  infidelities,  243  n.2,  244,  245 

—  Ill,  as  Duke  of  Savoy  : 

—  restoration  of  territory    to,   187, 
209 

—  disputes   about   French  fortresses 
in  Piedmont,  249-55 

—  council  at  Lyon,  252 

—  regains  Turin,  255 

—  (1574)   regains   the   keys    to  his 
dominions,  256 

—  shows  confidence   in    Margaret's 
judgment,  207,  208,  247,  267 

—  views  on  religious  toleration,  262, 
263,  264 

—  appeals  to   the   Pope   about  the 
Waldenses,  264 

—  makes  war  upon  them,  265,  266 

—  Philip  of  Savoy's  letter  concerning, 
339-40 

—  attacks  Protestants  of  Geneva,  261 

—  (1564)  Treaty  of  Lausanne,  268-9 

—  visits  Lyon,  274 

—  demands  payment  of  Margaret's 
dowry,  277 

—  demands  withdrawal  of  the  French 
from  Piedmont,  277 

—  quits  the  French  court,  278 

—  rejoins  it  at  Avignon,  278 

—  proposed  visit  to  England,  278 

—  reforms  of,  209,  285,  286 

—  taxes  levied  by,  286 

—  rebuilds  the  fortifications  of  Turin, 
2S6 

—  accompanies  Henry  III  through 
Italy,  292 

—  invites  Damville  to  Turin,  295,  296 

—  falls  ill  at  Turin,  300 

—  escorts  Henry   III  out   of  Pied- 
mont, 297 

—  receives    Margaret's   last    letter, 

3°2,  3°3 

—  returns  to  Turin  after  her  death, 

3°4 

—  writes  to  Nemours  about  the  ill- 
ness of  Charles  Emmanuel,  304  n. 

—  grieves  over  his  wife's  death,  313 

—  writes   to   Nemours    concerning, 
313  and  n. 

—  life  after  Margaret's  death,  313 


358 


Index 


Emmanuel  Philibert  Ill's  relations 
with  France  after  Margaret's  death, 

—  (1580)  death  of,  313 

—  memorial  verses  to,  121  n.s,  314 

—  the  Second  Founder  of  Savoy, 
246,  314 

Erasmus,  xxviii,  xxxvi,  35,  116,  289 
Erskine,  Lord,  58 

—  Margaret.     See  Margaret. 
Essars,  Herberay  des,  124 
Este,  Alphonso  d'.     See  Ferrara. 

—  Anne  d',  96  n.,  103,  106,  194, 
281,  2S2 

—  Isabella  d',  195  n.  5 

—  Lucrezia  d',  96,  100 
Etienne,  Robert,  printer,  117 
Eugenius  IV,  Pope,  155 

Farel,  Guillaume,  261 
Farnese,  Alessandro,  Cardinal,   146, 
164 

—  Ottavio,  146,  164 

—  Perluigi,  Duke  of  Parma,  146 
Farringdon,  327 

Felix    V,    Pope.      See   Amadeus   of 

Savoy,   155 
Ferdinand    of    Austria,    nephew   of 

Charles     V,     proposal     to     marry 

Margaret  to,  66 
Ferdinand,      Emperor,      brother     of 

Charles  V,   177 
Ferrara,  281,  295 

—  Alphonso  d'Este,  Prince  of,  later 
Duke  of,  178  n.,  I94,,i99,  2°3,  275 

—  Renee  of.     See  Renee. 
Fezandat,  Michel,  119 
Fiore,  Raffaelle,  177 
Florence,  32,  141,  201  n.2,  229 
Foix,  Paul  de,  290 
Fontainebleau,  17,  46,  49,  50,  51,  85, 

100,  136,  283,  284,  321,  322 

Fontarabia,  21,  22 

Forest-Moustier,  50  n. 

Fossano,  254 

Francis  I,  x-xxxv,  3,  4,  5,  6,  9,  10- 
12,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  22,  27, 
30,  3h  32»  33.  37,  39.  40,  41,  42, 
46,  54,  55.  56,  74,  77.  78,  79,  80, 
89,  90,  92,  122  n.'J,  195  and  n.3, 
196,  225,  333,  334 

—  grief  at  the  death  of  eldest  son, 
47-9 


Francis  I  at  Chatillon-sur-Loing,  50 

—  war  preparations,  51 

—  signs  Truce  of  Mon^on  with  the 
Emperor,  52 

—  receives  James  V,  60-1 

— ■  entertains  Charles  V  in  Fiance, 
66-8 

—  quarrels  with  the  Dauphin  Henry, 
69 

—  last  illness  and  death  in  1547, 
69-71,  109 

Francjois,  Dauphin,  Margaret's 
brother,   13,  15,  19,  25 

—  betrothal  to  Mary  of  England,  54 

—  illness  and  death  of,  47-9 
Francois,  Margaret's  nephew  : 
■ —  I,  as  Dauphin,  75,  321 

—  II,  as  King  of  Scotland,  194,  320 

—  Ill,  as  Francois  II,  Kingof  France, 
211,  212,  214,  215,  226,  227,  232 
and  n.,  249 

Francois,  Duke  of  Guise,  77,  81,  85, 
103,  106,  163,  194,  199,  203,  272, 
273,  281,  337 

Francois  de  Montmorency.  See  Mont- 
morency. 

Francois  de  Noailles,  337 

Franchise  de  Rohan,  Dame  de  Ga- 
mache.     See  Rohan,  Franchise  de. 

Gabrielle  de  Binel,    Dame  de  Coue, 

94,  95,  98 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  xli 
Garibaldi,  vi,  315 
Garnache,  castle  of,  108 

—  Dame  de.  See  Framboise  de  Rohan. 
Gelonis,  120  and  n.2 

Geneva,  lake  of,  155 

—  Calvin's  predecessor  at,  261 

—  Protestants  of,Emmanuel  Philibert 
makes  war  against,  268 

—  Margaret  supports  French  refugees 
at,  282 

—  Bishop  of,  306 
Genoa,  37 

Ghent,  Jean  de  Utenhove  scholar  of, 
117,  118 

—  Revolt  of,  65 
Girat,  319 

Giustiniani,  Angelo,  306 
Givet,  168 

Goudimel,  289  and  n.2 
Goufher,  Artus,  41 


159 


Index 


Gouffier,  Guillaume.     See  Bonnivet. 
Govea,  Andre  de,  241  n.1 

—  Antoine  de,  241 
Granvelle,Antoine  Perrenot,  Cardinal 

de,  176 

—  Nicolas  Perrenot,  Seigneur  de,  48, 
66 

Gregory  XIII,  Pope,  239 
Grevin,  Jacques,  doctor  poet,  241 
Grey,  Lady  Catherine,  329,  330,  331 

—  Lady  Jane,  327,  329 
Grimaldi,  Etienne,  Prince  of  Monaco, 

220 

—  Honore,  Prince  of  Monaco,  220, 
221 

Guichenon,   Samuel,  historian,    179, 

308 
Guises,    the,    80.     See   also   Claude, 

Duke  of;  Francois,  Duke  of. 
Gustiniano,  Venetian  ambassador,  33 

Habert,  Francois,  97  n.1 

Halluin,  Louise  de,  96  and  n.2 

Hanworth,  329 

Hapsburg,  House  of,  65,  174,  175,225 

Hautecombe,  Abbey  of,  154 

—  Margaret's  monument  at,  306,  308 

—  History  of,  307,  308 
Helene,  Ronsard's,  126 
Heliodorus,  romance  of,  translated  by 

Amyot  at  Bourges,  138 
Henry  II,  xxxvii,  xl,  12 

—  as  Duke  of  Orleans  and  later 
Dauphin,  13,  15,  17,  19-25,  27, 
31,  49  n.,  116,  162 

—  quarrels  with  his  father,  Francis  I, 
69,  78,  79 

—  Francis  dying  commits  Margaret 
to,  71 

—  as  A7«§- (1547-59),  92,  172,  17^, 
175,  176,  177,  185,  186,  1S7,  188, 
191.  195.  196,  235,  246,  271,  289 
and  n.1,  319,  320 

—  accession  of,  78 

—  coronation  of,  78 

—  manners  at  the  court  of,  91 

—  relations  with  Margaret,  74-5 

—  progress  through  France  into  Pied- 
mont, 84-9 

—  entry  into  Lyon,  87,  88 
— ■  at  Moulins,  89 

—  in  the  affair  of  Framboise  de  Rohan, 
101,  102 


Henry  II  opposes  the  new  poets,  III, 
112 

—  State  entry  into  Paris  (1549),  127 

—  grant  of  Berry  to  Margaret  (1550), 
121,  135 

—  attempts  to  mate  Margaret,  145, 
146 

—  employs  Denisot  as  spy,  336-8 

—  signs  Truce  of  Vaucelles(i556),  168 

—  at  the  Les  Tournelles  Tournament, 
199 

—  wounded  by  Montgommery,  200 

—  last  illness,  200-4 

—  hastens  Margeret's  wedding,  204 

—  death  of  (9  July,  1559),  104,  198, 
212 

—  lying  in  state  at  Les  Tournelles, 
207 

—  burial  at  St.  Denis,  211  n.1 

—  Margaret  in  mourning  for,  212,  215 
Henry  of  Navarre  (later  Henry  IV  of 

France),  xl,  xli,  xlii,  57  n.,  93,  176, 

203,  213,  275,  315 
Henry  III,  King  of  England,  150,  154 
Henry  III,  King  of  France,  in  Poland, 

290 

—  his  flight  from,  291 

—  his  journey  through  Italy,  292 

—  visit  to  Turin,  292 

—  persuaded  by  Margaret  to  sur- 
render the  last  French  fortress  in 
Piedmont,  294 

—  negotiations  with  Damville,  leader 
of  Les  Politiques,  294,  295.  296, 
297,  298 

—  leaves  Turin  for  France,  300 

—  attacked  by  Protestants  on  the 
way,  301 

—  writes  to  Margaret  about  Dam- 
ville, 298 

—  meets  Catherine  at  Bourgoin,  301 

—  enters  Lyon,  301 

—  presides  over  l'Academie  du  Palais, 

IJ9 

—  assassination  of  (1580),  315 

Henry  VII  of  England,  329  n. 
Henry  VIII  of  England,  13,  54,  55, 

58,  61,  64,  70,  329  and  n.,  334 
Henry  d'Albret,  31 
Henry   d'Angouleme,  natural  son  of 

Henry  II,  116 
Hesdin,    capture    of,  by    Emmanuel 

Philibert,   164,   165 


360 


Index 


Holbein,  289 

Holyrood,  death  of  Queen  Madeleine 

at,  64 
Horace,  xxxvi,  38,  113,  195 
Humbert  the  Saxon,  149,  161 

Innocent  IV,  Pope,  150,  151 
Isabella  of  Portugal,  54  n.,  65,  67,  158 
Ivrea,  168 

James  IV,  King  of  Scotland,  56 
James  V,  King  of  Scotland,  13,  54- 

63,  64 
Janot,  149 
Jarnac,  B.  of  (1569),  291,  300 

—  Guy  Chabot  de,  quarrel  and  duel 
with  La  Chataigneraie,  78-S4 

—  death  of,  84 
Jeanne  d'Albret.     Set  Albret. 
Jeanne  de  France,  137,  305 
Jodelle,  Etienne,  110-15 
John,  Don,  of  Austria,  222 
John,  King  of  France,  136 
John  III,  King  of  Portugal,  68  n.  ~ 
John,  Duke  of  Berry,  136-7 
Joinville,  Catherine  ill  at,  76 

—  the  court  visits,  85 
Juanaof  Spain,  Charles  V's  daughter, 

166  and  n.2 
Juge,  Abbe  Clement,  338 

Knox,  John,  xxviii 

Labe,  Louise  Charly,  Madame  Per- 

rin,  xxvii  n.,  86,  218 
La  Boetie,  Etienne  de,  120 
La  Chapelle,  60,  62 
La      Chataigneraie,      Francois     de 

Vivonne,     Seigneur     de,     quarrel 

with  Jarnac,  78-80 

—  duel  with.  80-4 

—  death  of,  84 

La  Cote,  Saint-Andre,  chateau  of,  80 
Lamartine,  Alphonse  de,  307  and  n. 
Langeais,  105,  106 
Langlois,  Charles,  336 
Lanino,  289 
La  Platiere,  Bordillon,  Seigneur  de, 

251,  252,  253 
La  Pommeraye,  French  ambassador 

to  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII,  61 
L'Aubespine,  Claude  de,   Secretaire 

des  Finances,  176 

2  A  2  361 


Lausanne,  Treaty  of,  268,  269 
La  Venerie,  farm  of,  313 
La  Vigne,  Jean  de,  Seigneur  d'Auvil- 
liers,  xxxvii 

—  at  Madame  de  Morel's  salon,  120 

—  ambassador    at    Constantinople, 
224 

— ■  appoints  Margaret  his  executrix, 
224 

—  receives   letters   from    Margaret, 
225 

—  starts  for  France,  226 

—  dies    on    the    way    (November, 
1559),  226 

La  Vigne  Royale,  farm  of,  313 
Legelle,    Francois    de,    Seigneur    de 

Guebriant,    promises    marriage   to 

Francoise  de  Rohan,  108 
Leith,  63 

Le  Laboureur,  255  and  n.2 
Le  Mans,  332  and  n.1 
Lenville,  Ollivier  de,  231 
Leona,  237 

Lepanto,  Battle  of,  222 
Les  Tournelles,  palace  of,  127,   193 

and  n.,   194,  198,  200,  203,  205, 

207,  210 
L'Hospital,  Michel  de,  viii,  29  and  n., 

38,  74,  238,  252,  275 

—  counsellor  in  the  Paris  Parlement, 
122,  n.2 

—  house  at  Vitry,  122  n.1 

—  house  at  Paris,  117 

—  escorts  Anne  d'Este  into  France, 
281 

—  presented    to    Margaret,    120-1, 
127 

—  praises  Margaret's  equanimity,  73 

—  reproaches    her    indulgence    of 
place-hunters,  73-4,   114 

—  makes  peace  between  the  old  and 
the  new  poets,  113 

—  in  Madame  de  Morel's  salon,  120 

—  writes  Latin  epistles  to  Margaret, 
119 

—  appointed  to  be  her  Chancellor  in 
Berry,  121 

—  plays  the  part  of  her  Maecenas, 
121-3 

—  draws  up  her  marriage  contract, 
186,  207 

—  aids  Emmanuel    Philibert  in  his 
legal  reforms,  207-9 


Index 


L'Hospital,    Michel    de,     appointed 
Chancellor  of  Savoy,  215 

—  accompanies    Margaret   to   Mar- 
seille, 215-20 

—  relates   the  journey  in    a    Latin 
poem,  215 

—  leaves  Margaret  in  order  to  go  to 
Bourges,  217 

—  compares  Renaissance  Lyon  with 
the  Roman  town,  218 

—  his  mule  refuses  to  enter  a  river  in 
flood,  219 

—  at  Marseille  leaves  her  to   com- 
plete the  journey  by  sea,  220 

—  witnesses  her  arrival  at  Nice,  220 

—  is  appointed  Chancellor  of  France, 

—  negotiates   the   Treaty  of  Long- 
jumeau,  280 

—  is  dismissed  from  office,  280 

—  his  life  saved  by  Margaret  after 
St.  Bartholomew,  280-1 

—  death  of,  282 
Limoges,  no,  in 
Limours,  Francis  I  at,  70 
London,  334 

Longjumeau,  Peace  of,  280 
Longwy,  Jacqueline  de.     See  Mont- 

pensier,  Duchess  de. 

—  Seigneur  de,  43  n. 

Loretto,    Our    Lady    of,    James    V 
makes  a  pilgrimage  to  her  shrine 
near  Musselburgh,  59 
Lorges,  Count  of,  199 
L'Orme,  Philibert  de,  12,  86 
Lorraine,   Charles,  Cardinal  of,  76, 
77,275.32i»322 

—  in   the    affairs    of    Francoise   de 
Rohan,  98,  101,  104 

—  at  Paris  after  St.  Quentin,   172, 

175,  J76 

—  in  the  negotiations  for  the  Cateau- 
Cambresis  Treaty,    176,   1S0,  181, 

l85 

—  a   beneficiary  under   the  will   of 

Jean  de  La  Vigne,  226 

—  in  the  disputes  about  the  French 
towns  in  Piedmont,  227,  251,  252 

—  visits  Margaret's  court  in   Pied- 
mont, 253,  254 

—  restores  to  the  Duke  four  French 
towns  in  Piedmont,  254 

—  Duke  of,  179,  321,  322 


Loudun,  town  of,  107 

—  Duchess  of.  See  Francoise  de 
Rohan. 

Louis   XII,   xxxvii,    6,    10,    12   n.1, 

49,  54,  117,  136,  137.305 
Louis  XIV,  188,  195  n.3 
Louis  XVI,  248 

Louise  of  France,  12  and  n.,  13 
Louise  of  Savoy,  9,   11,  12,  13,  14, 

19,  21,  25,  30.  85  n.,  92,  157  n. 
Louvain,  University  of,  201,  n.2 
Louvre,  palace  of,  xlii,  4,  119,  127, 

191,  205,  210,  288 
Luis,  Don,  of  Portugal,  66 
Luther,  289 
Luynes    or   Loynes,    Antoinette   de, 

117,  118,  120,  124,  126 
Luzerna,  259 
Lyon,   51,  85,  86,  87,  88,  89,  212, 

213  and  n.\  217,  218,  234,  235, 

252,  274,  275,  276,  277,  278,  289, 

300,  301,  306 

Macrin,  Salmon,    also   called    Mac- 

rinus  and  Maigret,  120  and  n. 
Madeleine  of  Austria,  177,  178,  179 
Madeleine  of  France,  later  Queen  of 
Scotland,    14,     17,    32,     34,    54, 

55-64 
Madeleine     of    Montmorency.      See 

Montmorency. 
Madrid,  city  of,  20,  49  n.,  66 

—  Treaty  of,  19,  22  n. 
Magdalene,  Daurat's  daughter,  120 
Maine,  332 

Malta,  284 

—  the  Grand  Master  of,  239 
Mantua,  292 

Margaret  of  Angouleme,  xxix,  xxxi, 
xxxiii,  xxxvi,  4,  12,  14,  l6,  19,  57, 
74,  124,  125,    135,   138,  211,  258, 

259, 323, 334 

—  directs  her  niece's  education, 
30-46 

—  death  of  first  husband,  31 

—  betrothal  to  Charles  V,  54 

—  negotiations  for  marriage  with 
Henry  VIII,  55 

—  marries  Henry  d'Albret,  31 

—  Duchess  of  Berry,  137-8 

—  kindness  to  Catherine  de  Medicis, 
32  ;  and  to  Franchise  de  Rohan,  93 

—  learning  of,  36 


362 


Index 


Margaret  of  Angouleme  dedicates  a 
poem  to  her  niece,  Margaret,  39 

—  plays  a  trick  on  Bonnivet,  41-5 

—  with  her  niece   at  Fontainebleau, 

49 

—  (1538)  takes  her  to  Nice,  147 

—  grieves  over  the  death  of  Francis  I, 

7i 

—  (1548)  at  Lyon,  89 

—  at     Moulins    for    her    daughter's 
wedding,  89 

—  (1549)  melancholy  of  last  days  and 
death,  89-90,  93,  109 

—  memorial  verses  to,  121-5,  314 

—  Elizabeth  of  England  translates  a 
poem  of,  125 

Margaret  of  Austria,  xxxi  n.2,    21, 

308  and  n.2 
Margaret,  Duchess  of  Parma,  x 
Margaret   Erskine,    Lady    Douglas, 

mistress  of  James  V,  58 
Margaret,  Queen  Dowager  of  Italy, 

ix,  231 
Margaret  of  France  I,  During  the 
reign  of  Francis  I  (1523-47)  : 

—  period  of,  ix 

—  spelling  of  name,  x 

—  titles  of,  xxxi 

—  birth  of,  3 

—  good   health   and   good   looks   in 
childhood,  16 

—  welcomes  brothers  on  return  from 
Spain,  23,  24,  25 

—  Brissac  her  playfellow,  26 

—  Brantome's     scandal      touching, 
27-9,  41 

—  Catherine  de  Medicis  her  lifelong 
friend,  31 

—  friendship  with  the  Montmorencys, 

17 

—  education  of,  34  -46 

—  introduced    by     name     into    the 
Heptamcron,  40 

—  attempts  to  imitate  Boccaccio,  46 

—  falls  ill  at  Fontainebleau,  49 

—  goes  to  Chatillon-sur-Loing,  50 

—  friendship  with  Coligny,  50 

—  returns  to  Fontainebleau,  15 1 

—  matrimonial  projects  for,   54,   56, 
64,  65-8,  147 

—  falls  ill  on  her  sister's  death,  64 

—  receives  a  diamond  from  Charles 
V,  68  n.1 


Margaret  of  France  I,  at  her  father's 
death-bed,  71 

—  II,  During  the  reign  of  Henry  II 

(1547-59) = 

—  affection  for  her  brother,  74 

—  importance  of  position  at  court,  72 

—  deprived  of  revenue  by  her  brother, 

—  organisation    of    her    household, 

72-3 

—  accounts  of,  xxxi  n.,  47  n.1,  73, 

283 

—  indulgence  to  her  servants,  73  ; 
and  to  place  hunters,  73-4 

—  directs  the  studies  of  her  nephews 
and  nieces,  75 

—  nurses  Mary  Stuart,  75—7,  319-22 

—  at  Henry's  II's  coronation,  78 

—  takes  Jarnac's  part  in  his  quarrel 
with  Chataigneraie,  78 

— ■  is  present  at  the  duel,  8o,  83 

—  goes  on  a  royal  progress  through 
France,  84-9 

—  at  Lyon  in  1548,  86-9 

—  intervenes  in  the  affair  of  Francoise 
de  Rohan  and  the  Duke  of  Nem- 
ours, 99-104 

—  friendship  with  Nemours,  102, 
104,  108 

—  matrimonial  proposals,  Philip  of 
Spain,  146  ;  Cardinal  Farnese,  146 

—  grieves  over  her  friends'  sufferings 
during  the  war,  163-5 

—  falls     ill     with     whooping-cough 

(1557).  172 

—  anxious  about  Montmorency  dur- 
ing his  imprisonment,  172 

—  proposed  by  France  as  a  bride  for 
Emmanuel  Philibert,  179,  180 

—  views  on  the  marriage,  180 

—  annoyed  by  Emmanuel  Philibert's 
proposal  for  her  niece,  180,  181 

—  writes  to  Brissac  about  her  mar- 
riage, 182 

—  (February,  1559)  at  Villers-Cot- 
terets,  185 

—  intercedes  with  Henry  for  the 
restoration  of  fortresses  in  Pied- 
mont, 186 

—  hears  of  her  betrothal  to  Em- 
manuel Philibert,  50 

—  sends  l'Hospital  to  draw  up  mar- 
riage contract,  186 


363 


Index 


Margaret  of  France  II,  date  of  wed- 
ding, 189 

—  Savoy  comes  to  Paris,  191 

—  signing  of  marriage  contract,  193 
and  n.,  194 

■ —  preparations    for    wedding,    194, 

195 

—  trousseau,  195-8 

—  marriage  verses,  159,  194,  195 

—  at  the  Les  Tournelles  Tournament, 
200 

—  bitterness  towards  Montgommery, 
200 

—  wedding  hastened   by  Henry  II, 
204,  205 

—  the  midnight  marriage,  205,   133, 
140,  1S6,  1S8,  191 

—  literary  influence  of,  xxxiii,  xxxviii, 
1 10,  in 

—  a  Fetnme  Savant 'e,  xxxvi,  37 

—  in  the   quarrel    between    the    old 
and  new  poets,  111-13 

—  loves  books  and  buys  them,  xxxvi, 
246 

—  prose  and  verse  dedicated  to,  xxx 
n3,  no,  in,  112,  116,  124 

—  emblem  and  motto,  1 1 1 

—  Nicolas  Denisot  received  into  her 
circle,  334 

—  popularity  in  France,  xxxvi 

—  rewards  poets  and  scholars,  113, 

"4 

—  friendship   with  Jean    de    Morel, 
116,  120 

—  at  Les  Tournelles  in  1549,  127-8 

—  admired  by   Joachim    du    Bellay, 
126,  131,  132 

—  reads    La   Deffenca   and    r  Olive, 
128 

—  Was  she  l'Olive?  128-9 

—  Du  Bellay  presented  to  her,  120 

—  Government   of    Berry,    38,     121 
and  n.1,  135,  246 

—  appoints  l'Hospital  her  chancellor, 
121 

—  gift  for  Government,  136 

—  protects  (a)  commerce,  135, 141-3 

(/-)  learning,  135,  137, 
138,  139,  143;  es- 
tablishes a  salon  at 
Bourges,    137 

{<)  letters,  135 


Margaret    of    France     II,     disputes 

(a)  with   the    professors 
of  Bourges,  139,  140 

(b)  with    the    aldermen, 

138 

—  her  revenue    suffers    through   the 
commercial  decline  of  Bourges,  143 

—  Ill,  &s  Duchess  of  Savoy,  1559-74: 

—  honeymoon,  206 

—  Savoy's,  departure  to  the  Nether- 
lands, 207 

—  accompanies     Catherine     to    St. 
Germain,  210,  21 1 

—  goes  to  Villers-Cotterets,  211 

—  reunited  to  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
211 

—  makes  her  State  entry  into  Reims, 
212 

—  at  the  coronation  of  Francis  II, 
212 

—  at  Paris  in  October,  1559,  212-13 

—  Did  she  accompany  her  husband 
to  Lyon?  213  n.1 

—  at  Vallery  and  Blois,  213-14 

—  reasons  for  the  delay  in  her  de- 
parture for  Savoy,  213-14 

—  departure  for  Savoy,  140 

—  Du  Bellay   grieves   over,    xxxvii, 

133.  134 

—  date  of  leaving  Blois,  214 

—  parting  with  Catherine,  214 

—  escort,  214,  215 

—  L'Hospital  appointed  Chancellor 
of  Savoy,  215 

—  portrait  sketched  by  Clouet,  215 

—  journey  to  Nice,  68 

—  related  by  L'Hospital,  215 

—  at  Romorantim,  receives  a  deputa- 
tion from  Bourges,  216,  217 

—  at  Moulins,'detained  by  floods,  217 

—  State  entry  into  Lyon,  217-18 

—  leaves  Lyon,  219 

—  visits  Nostradamus,  219 

—  difficulties  of  travel,  219 

—  meets  her  husband  at  Marseille, 
220 

—  arrives  at  Nice,  220 

—  constitution  of  household,  290 

—  receives  letters  from  the  Princes  of 
Monaco,  224 

—  refuses  to  see  Occhiali,  224 

—  friendship  with  La  Vigne,  xxxvii, 
224,  225 


364 


Index 


Margaret  of  France  III,  administers 
his  estate,  xxxvii,  226,  227 

—  and  provides  friends  for  his  nieces, 
227 

—  falls  ill  at  Nice  (1560),  228,  229, 
251 

—  enters  Italy  for  the  first  time, 
229 

—  resides  at  Vercelli,  230-1 

—  corresponds  with  Catherine,  231, 
320 

—  parts  with  L'Hospital,  who  be- 
comes Chancellor  of  France,  231 

—  L'Hospital's  gratitude  is  expressed 
in  his  will,  xxxvii 

—  appointed  his  executrix,  2S2 

—  Margaret  and  motherhood,  214, 
233,  236 

—  birth  of  her  son  (12  January,  1562), 
43  n.,  236,  237,  252 

—  rules  as  regent  during  her  hus- 
band's illnesses  (1563,  1573),  242, 
290 

—  writes  to  Nemours  about  her 
husband's  health,  242 

—  relations  with  her  husband,  243, 
244,  245 

—  personal  appearance,  244 

—  difficulties  of  position  in  Savoy, 
247,  248 

—  popularity,  xxxvi 

—  disputes  over  the  five  French 
fortresses  in  Piedmont,  248 

(1)  with  Brissac,  248,  249,  250, 

251 

(2)  with  Bordillon,  251,  253 

—  negotiations  opened  with  Catherine 
concerning,  252 

—  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  de- 
spatched as  envoy  to  Savoy,  253, 

254 

—  French  evacuation  of  four  fort- 
resses, 253-5,  270 

—  final  evacuation  of  Piedmont  by 
the  French,  270  n. 

—  makes  State  entry  into  Turin 
(1562),  255 

—  encourages  education  in  Savoy, 
286,  288 

—  encourages  painting  and  music, 
288,  289 

—  herself  a  musician,  289 

—  her  pictures,  289 


Margaret  of  France  III,  aids  her  hus- 
band in  his  reforms,  xxxviii,  285, 
286 

—  advises  him  in  affairs  of  state,  209 

—  persuades  him  to  exempt  Bourg-en- 
Bresse  from  the  salt  tax,  286 

—  visits  Lyon  (1564),  274,  275,  276, 
277 

—  meets  old  friends,  275 

—  delay  in  the  payment  of  dowry, 
277,  284  n.1 

—  confers  with  the  English  Ambas- 
sador, 278 

—  receives  a  gift  from  Charles  IX,  279 

—  loses  one  of  her  best  friends, 
Anne  de  Montmorency,  279,  2S0 

—  generosity,  283,  285 

—  visited  by  Paul  de  Foix,  290 

—  visited  by  Henry  III,  290 

—  entertains  him  royally,  293 

—  persuades  him  to  surrender  the 
last  fortress  held  by  the  French  in 
Italy,  293,  294 

—  is  perplexed  as  to  her  conduct  to- 
wards Damville,  297 

—  writes  to  Emmanuel  Philibert  con- 
cerning, 298,  299  and  n. 

—  connives  at  Damville's  escape,  300 

—  projected  visit  to  Lyon,  301,  302 

—  detained  at  Turin  by  son's  illness, 
302 

—  writes  to  husband  concerning,  302, 

3°3 

—  falls  ill  herself  302,  303  and  n. 

—  death  of  (14    September,    1574), 

303-6 

—  burial  of,  306 

—  religious  opinions  of,  257 

—  protects  the  Huguenots,  viii, 
xxxviii,  259 

—  procures  for  Coligny  restoration  of 
an  estate  in  Savoy,  5° 

—  espouses  the  cause  of  the  Walden- 
ses,  viii,  259,  262 

—  receives  a  deputation  of,  at  Nice, 
262 

—  intercedes  for  with  Emmanuel 
Philibert,  262,  264-6 

—  secures  the  appointment  of  Philip 
of  Savoy  to  command  the  army  sent 
against,  265 

—  receives  a  deputation  at  Vercelli, 
266,  267 


365 


Index 


Margaret  of  France  III,  gratitude  of 
the  Waldenses,  267,  339,  340 

—  secures    religious    liberty  for  the 
Genevese,  268-9 

—  mistrusts  Philip  II,  269,  270 

—  interest  in  the    French    Wars  of 
Religion,  270,  274,  277 

—  intercedes  with  Catherine  for  the 
Protestants  of  Bourges,  271 

—  saves    L' Hospital's     life     at    St. 
Bartholomew,  280,  281 

—  interest    in   the    French  religious 
wars,  270,  274,  277 

—  intercedes     with     Catherine     for 
Protestants  of  Bourges,  271 

—  supports    Huguenot    refugees    at 
Geneva,  282 

—  her  gift  of  equanimity,  306 

—  funeral  orations   in    her    honour, 
306 

—  monument  erected  to,  at  Haute- 
combe,  306-9 

—  memorial  verses  to,   121  n.2,  308, 
309,  310,  314 

—  Catherine's  grief  on  the  death  of, 

—  Queen  Margot  writes  to  Renee  on 
the  death  of,  312 

—  last  political  act,  313 

—  effect  of  death  on  French  alliance 
with  Savoy,  314 

—  debt  of  Savoy  to,  vii,  ix,  xxxviii, 
240 

—  a    foundress     of     United     Italy, 
xxxviii,  315 

—  a  mediatress  between  France  and 
Spain,  viii,  xxxviii 

Margaret  of  Parma,  207 
Margaret  of  Scotland,  13 1  and  n. 
Margaret  Tudor,  56 
Margot,     la    Reine,     xxxii,     xxxiii, 
xxxix,  xliii,  194,  275,  293  and  n.1, 

3°5>  32I»  322 

Marie  Antoinette,  247,  248 

Marie,  Ronsard's,  126 

Marot,  Clement,  109,  ill 

Marsilly,  Philibert  de,  96 

Martigues,  219,  220 

Mary  of  Guise,  321 

Mary,    Princess    of    England,     later 

Queen,  54,  57,  58,   l66,  l67»  183, 

325 
Mary,  Queen  of  Hungary,  57 


Mary  of  Portugal,  57,  68,  166 
Mary  Stuart,   75,    194  and  n.,   212, 

214,  215,  319,  320,  321,  322  and  n. 
Mary  Tudor,  Queen  of  France,  later 

Duchess  of  Suffolk,  328  n. 
Maximilian,  Emperor,  156,  305 
Mazarin,  Cardinal,  156 

—  La  Rue,  117 
Mazzini,  315 

Medici,  Catherina  di.  See  Catherine 
de  Medicis. 

—  family  of,  32 

—  Lorenzo  di,  32 
Meigret,  House  of,  193  n. 
Mere,  Poltrot  de,  272,  273,  276 
Mesme,  Jean  Pierre  de,  124 
Meudon,  Margaret  at,  76,  77,  322 
Milan,  289 

Milton,  259 

Miribel,  Chateau  of,  274 

Monaco,  220,  221 

Monc,on,  Treaty  of,  52  n. 

Moncontour,    Battle  of  (1569),   291, 

300 
Mondovi,  287,  288 
Montaigne,  Michel  de,   120,  241  and 

n.,  290,  305,  333 
Mont-de-Marsan,  24 
Montgommery,   199,  200,    202,  203 

and  n.,  204 
Monticuculo,  47,  48 
Monluc,   Blaize  de,   xxxi,   171,   187, 

202 
Montmorency,  Annede,  17,  50,  51-2, 

74,  80,  iot,  169,  175,  188,  193  n., 

194,  202,  213,  270,  271,  272,  273, 

275  and  n.,277,  294,  338 

—  tries  to  marry  Margaret  to  the 
Emperor  Charles  V,  66,  68 

—  disgrace  of,  69 

—  Margaret  writes  to,  76,  77,  164 
and  n.1,  173,  254,  319,  320 

—  commands  against  Emmanuel 
Philibert  in  the  Low  Countries 
(1554),  168 

—  taken  prisoner  and  wounded  by,  at 

St.  Quentin(i557),  171,  173 

—  Margaret's  anxiety  concerning,  173 

—  liberated  on  parole,  visits  Henry 
II  at  Beauvais,  173 

—  at  the  Cercamp  and  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis  Conferences,  176,  183,  1S4, 
185 


366 


Index 


Montmorency,  Anne  de,  pays  ransom 
to  Emmanuel  Philibert,  183 

—  announces  to  Coligny  Margaret's 
approaching  marriage,  186 

—  denounces  Margaret  as  a  heretic, 

257 

—  fatally    wounded    at     St.     Denis 
(1567),  279 

—  death  of,  279,  280 
Montmorency,  Francois  de,  96  n.2, 

163,  164,  191,  271,  295 

—  Henry  de.     See  Damville. 

—  House  of,  296 

—  Louise  de,  5°.  52 

—  Madeleine  de,  17,  28,    101,   165, 
258,  270,  296  and  n. 

Montpellier,  234 

Montpensier,  Duchess  of,  43  and  n., 

101 
Morat,  Battle  of  (1476),  156 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  the  household  of, 

117 
Morel,  Jean  de,  Seigneur  de  Grigny, 

116-21,  127,  195,  225 

—  Camille  de,  daughter  of  Jean,  117, 

195 

—  Diane  de,  daughter  of  Jean,  117, 

195 

—  Lucrecede,  daughter  of  Jean,  117. 

195 

—  Madame  de.     See    Luynes,    An- 
toinette de. 

Moretta,  271 

Morin,    Marie,    wife   of  Michel    de 

1' Hospital,  120 
Morin,  Lieutenant  Criminel,  Marie's 

father,  122  n.2 
Morland,  Sir  Samuel,  260 
Morvilliers,    Jean     de,     Bishop     of 

Orleans,  176,  253,  254 
Moulin,  Guy  du,   Margaret's  doctor, 

290 
Moulins,  Margaret  at,  in  1548,  85,  89 ; 

(IS59),  217 

Naples,  vi 

Navarre,  Hotel  de,  117 

—  Kings    of.     See  Henry  and  Ven- 
dome. 

—  Queen     of.        See     Margaret     of 
Angouleme. 

Nemours,  Jacques  de  Savoie,  Duke 
of,  168,  180,  203,  247,  304  n.,  331 


Nemours,  Jacques  de  Savoie,  Duke 
of,  the  lover  of  Francoise  de  Rohan, 

91.   94.   95.  96,  97.  98.  99,  100, 
102,  103,  107,  108 

—  the    suitor,   of  Queen    Elizabeth, 

92-3 

—  the  husband  of  Anne  d'Este,  103, 
iq6,  108,  199 

—  commands  the  French  Catholic 
army,  105 

—  death  of,  108 
Nerac,  xxxv,  203 

Netherlands,  the,  65,  68,    160,    167, 

191,  209 
Nice,  xxvii,  147,  215,  220,  221,  228, 

229,  262 
Northumberland,  Duke  of,  326,  327 
Nostradamus,  219,  234,  235,  236 
Novara,  289 
Noyon,  Treaty  of,  13 

Occhiali,  or  Ali  the  Renegade, 
Viceroy  of  Algiers,  attacks  Ville- 
franche,  221. 

—  story  of  his  life,  221-2 

—  overcomes  the  Savoyards,  223 

—  demands  to  see  Margaret,  223,  224 
Odos,  chateau  of,  90 

Olive,   Du  Bellay's,    128,    129,    130, 

131 
Orange,  county  of,  246 

—  the  Prince  of,  176,  190,  191 
Orleans,  M.  de.     See  Henry  II. 

—  Duke  of.  See  Charles,  Count  of 
Angouleme,  after  1536  Duke  of 
Orleans,  Margaret's  brother. 

—  the  Constable  a  prisoner  at,  273 
Oughtred,  Sir  Anthony,  325 

Padua,  292,  University  of,  201  n.2 

Paradis,  Paul,  37 

Pare,  Ambroise,  104,  172,  200,  275, 

285 
Parker,  Archbishop,  330 
Parlamente,  xxxv 
Parr,  Catherine,  55 
Pascal,  Charles,  306 
Pasquier,  Etienne,  xxxii 
Pater,  Walter,  133 
Pau,  chateau  of,  102 
Paul  III,  Pope,  58 
Pavia,  15,  30,  42 
Penshurst,  327 


367 


Index 


Perosa,  253,  255,  259,  293 

Perpignan,  xxvii  n.,  27 

Perrin,  Ennemond,  husband  of  Louise 

Labe,  86 
Perron,  Madame  du,  wife  of  Antoine 

de  Gondi,  87 
Peterborough,  Bishop  of,  328 
Philibert  Mareschal,  Lord  of  Mont 

Symon-en-Bresse,  236 
Philip  the  Handsome,  47 
Philip  II,  x,   xxviii,   54-5,    158,   171 

and  n.2,    177,  184,  201,  206,  207, 

209,  212,  246,  255,  258,  268,  269, 

315.  321,  330 

—  proposals  to  marry  Margaret  to, 
65,  66-148 

—  marries  Mary  of  Portugal,  68 

—  marries   Mary  of  England,    166, 
167 

—  visited  by  Emmanuel  Philibert  in 
England,  167 

—  proposal   for    his    marriage   with 
Elizabeth  of  France,  184,  185 

—  marriage  arranged  by  the  Treaty 
of  Cateau-Cambresis,  189 

—  Alva,  his  proxy,  191 
Pia,  Emilia;  xxviii 

Piennes,  Lord  and  Lady  of,  96 

—  Jeanne  de,  96  n.2 
Pinerolo,  51,  52,  187,  255,  293 
Pius  IX,  Pope,  268 

Platiere,  Imbert  de  la,  Seigneur  de 

Bordillon,  251 
Pleiade,  the,  xxxviii,  no,    1 15,   137, 

194,  288,  334 
Plutarch,  37,  138 
Poitiers,  Battle  of,  136 

—  Diane  de.     See  Diane. 
Pont-a-Mousson,  the  Marquis  of,  61 
Pontronius,   Margaret's   professor   of 

Greek,  37,  38,  120 
Porporato,  Lady,  23S 
Postel,  Guillaume,  xxx  and  n.2 
Pra  del  Tor,  fortress  of  the  Waldenses, 

266 
Provana,  Carlo,  Abbot  of  Novalesi, 

escorts  Margaret  to  Nice,  215 

Rabelais,  xxxiv,  86,  109 
Racconigi,    Lord    of.       See   Savoy, 

Philip  of. 
Ragonne,  the  Count  of,  326 
Rambouillet,  xlii,  70,  118 


Ravastein,  13 

Reims,  212 

Renee  of  France,  II,  12,  37,54,247, 

248,  257,  274,  277,  305',  311,  312 
Renteria,  21,  22 
Retz,  M.  de,  285 
Rich,  Edmund,  150 
Richelieu,  119,  188 
Rieux,  Louise  de,  97  n.1 
Rinijon,      French     Ambassador     at 

Constantinople,  225 
Riom,  194 
Ripaille,  155 
Rivoli,  186 

—  birth  of  Margaret's  son  at,  236, 

237 

—  Emmanuel  Philibert   seriously  ill 

at,  242 
Roanne,  60 
Roche,  287 

Rochefort,  Francis  I  at,  70 
Rohan,  Rene"  de,  father  of  Francoise, 

93.  94 
Rohan,    Francoise     de,     Dame    de 
Garnache,  331 

—  suit  of,  91 

—  her  upbringing,  93 

—  at   court,   visited     by    Nemours, 

94-5 

—  corresponds  with  Nemours,  95 

—  he  promises  marriage,  95,  98,  99, 
105 

—  he  excites  her  jealousy,  95-7 

—  attempts  of  Margaret,  Catherine, 
and  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  to 
separate  from  Nemours,  98-101 

—  submitted  to  an  ordeal,  101 

—  interview  in  the  King's  closet,  101 

—  birth  of  a  son,  Henry  de  Savoie, 
to,  102 

—  alleged  paternity  of  Nemours, 
102 

—  suit  of,  against,  91,  102-7 

—  admits  dissolution  of  alleged 
marriage  with  Nemours,  107 

—  son's  dastardly  treatment  of,  108 

—  further  matrimonial  adventures, 
108 

—  death  of,  1591,  108 
Rome,  308  n.r 
Romorantin,  Francis  I  at,  II 

—  Margaret  stays  at,  on  the  way  to 
Savoy,  68  n. ,  216,  217 


368 


Index 


Ronsard,  xxxii,  xxxviii,  4,  5,  55,  no, 
n6,  123,  126,127,  145,   163,  246, 

279,  314,  334 

—  accompanies  Madeleine  to  Scot- 
land, 63 

—  odes  of,  113 

—  quarrel  with  Saint-Gelais,   1 12-13 

—  presented  to  Margaret,  114 

—  writes  verses  in  her  honour,   114, 

115.  309.  31° 

—  in  the  salon  of  Madame  de  Morel, 

119 

—  orations  delivered  in  1'Academie 
du  Palais,  1 19 

—  at  the  College  Coqueret,  119 
Rosso,  frescoes  of,  33 
Rouen,  Treaty  of,  13 

—  illness  of  Madeleine  at,  63 

—  death  of  Antoine  de  Vendome  at 
the  siege  of,  106 

Roussillon,  219 

—  Margaret  visits  (1564),  278 

Saint-Andre,  Marechal   de,  95-168, 

176,  183,  184,  188,  213 
Saint  Andre-des-Arcs,  Rue  de,  117, 

118,  119,  120,  124 
Saint  Antoine,  Gate  of,  127 

—  Rue  de,  198,  205  n.2 
Sainte-Beuve,  132 

Saint  Denis,  12,  127,  211,  279 

Saint  Etienne  du  Mont,  338 

Saint-Gelais,  Mellin  de,  97  n.1, 
111-113 

Saint  Germain-en-Laye,  3,  9,  13,  14, 
70,  80,  85,  104,  172,  210,  211 

Saint  Hilaire,  le  Mont,  119 

Saint  Jean-de-Luz,  23,  24 

Saint  Jean,  Rue  de,  at  Lyon,  Mar- 
garet watches  her  brother's  trium- 
phal entry  from  a  house  in,  87 

—  Cathedral  of,  at  Lyon,  218 
Saintlow,    Mistress   Bess    of    Hard- 

wicke,  330 
Saint-Marceau,  Faubourg  de,  338 
Saint  Maurice,  149 
Saint  Michel,  Boulevard,  117 
Saint-Paul,  Hotel  de,  127,  n. 

—  Chapel  of,  Margaret  married  in, 
205  and  n.2 

Saluzzo,  252,  293,  315 
San  Martino,  259 
Santhia,  255,  256 


Sardinia,  150,  30S  n.,  315 

Savigliano,  253,  255,  293 

Savoy,  Amadeus  III,  Count  of,  307 

—  Amadeus  IV,  Count  of,  150 

—  Amadeus  VIII,  Count  and  first 
Duke  of,  afterwards  Pope  Felix  IV, 
155,  209 

—  Amadeus  IX,  156 

—  Amadeus,  Saint  of,  237 

—  Boniface  of,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 150-4 

—  Counts  of,  150 

—  Duchy  of,  246  ;  restoration  of,  to 
Emmanuel  Philibert,  187;  invasion 
of,  by  Henry  IV,  315 

—  Dukes  of,  150 

—  Emmanuel  Philibert's  reorganisa- 
tion of,  246 

—  House  of,  V,  vii,  148,  149 

burial  place  of  the,  306,  308  n. 

policy  of  the,  149,  150,  315 

—  Charles  III,  Duke  of,  315  ;  bro- 
ther of  Louise  of  Savoy,  157  n.1, 
248 

proposes  marriage  of  Margaret 

and  his  son,  Louis,  147 ;  of  Mar- 
garet and  his  son,  Emmanuel 
Philibert,   147,   157 

meets  Margaret  at  Nice,  147 

engages   in  war  with    France, 

loses  his  dominions,  157 

death  of  (1553),  166,  230 

—  Emmanuel  Philibert,  Duke  of. 
See  Emmanuel  Philibert. 

—  Henri  de,  son  of  Franchise  de 
Rohan,  birth  of,  102  ;  capture  of, 
107  ;  besieges  his  mother  at  Gar- 
nache,  105  ;  death  of,  108 

—  indebtedness  of,  to  French  prin- 
cesses, 156 

—  Louise  de.     See  Louise. 

—  Margaret  of.     See  Margaret. 

—  Peter  of,  150 

—  Philibert,  Duke  of,  308  n.2 

—  Philip  of,  Lord  of  Racconigi,  265, 
266,  267,  339,  340 

Sceve,  Maurice,  88 
Scott,  Sir  Gilbert,  307 
Seche,  M.  Leon,  129 
Senarpont.  337 

Seymour,  Edward,  Marquis  of  Hert- 
ford, 329,  330,  331 


369 


Index 


Seymour,  Queen  Jane,  323,  325  n. 

—  the  sisters  Anne,  121,  123,  125, 
326,  327  and  n.2,  328  and  n.1,  335 
and  n.1 

—  Jane,  121,  123,  125,  323,  324, 
328-31.  335  and  n.1 

—  Margaret,  121,  123,  125,  323,  324, 
325,  335  and  n.1 

Shene  (Richmond),  326 
Sicily,  Kings  of,  150,  315 
Sidney,  Sir  Henry,  327 
Silva,  Don  Ruy  Gomez  de,  176,  185 
Simon  de  Montfort,  266 
Sion  House,  325 

Smith,  Sir  Thomas,  English  ambassa- 
dor to  the  French  court,  276 

—  confers  with  Margaret,  278 
Somerset,   Duke  of,    121,  325,   327, 

328  n.1,  334  and  n.2,  335 

—  Duchess  of  (Anne  Stanhope),  121, 

325»  329 

—  Place,  167 
Sorbin,  Antoine,  306 
Stropiano,  Count  of,  176 
Suffolk,  Duchess  of,  329 

—  Duke  of.      See  Brandon,  Charles. 
Susa,  Pass  of,  52 

Tagliacarnus,  Benedictus,  37 

Tain,  219 

Tarentaise,  149 

Tende,  Comte  de,  263 

Tennant,   John,   James   V    disguises 

himself  as,  60 
Terouenne,  163,  164 
Tertulle,  Margaret's  fool,  216 
Thirlby,  Bishop  of  Ely,  English  envoy 

at  Cercamp,  176 
Thou,  de,  290 
Throckmorton,   English    ambassador 

in  France,  193,  n.1 
Tillon,  319 
Tintoretto,  196 
Titian,  201 
Tournon,   Cardinal  of,   51,    210   n. , 

219 

—  death  of  Dauphin  Francois  at,  219 
Tower  Hill,  327 

Trent,  Council  of,  103,  253 
Trevieu,  278 

Triboulet,  fool  of  Francis  I,  67 
Trinita,  Comte  della,  266 
Trissino,  97  n.1 


Troyes,  85 
Turenne,  M.  de,  164 
Turin,   290,   293,  294,  295,  296,  297, 
298,  299,  300,  313 

—  Archbishop  of,  239,  303 

—  Archives,  x,  xxxix  and  n.,  68  n.1, 
160  n.2,  162  n.'2,  193  n.,  194, 
247  n.,  267  n. ,  2S4  n.1,  29S  n., 
303  n.,  306 

—  Claudius  of,  259 

—  Charles  Emmanuel  sent  to,  242 

—  Margaret  approaches,  230 

—  Palace  of,  239  and  n.1 

—  Picture  Gallery  of,  215,  289 

—  Siege  of,  51,  52 

—  French  occupation  of,  187,  248, 
286 

—  Baptism  of  Charles  Emmanuel  at, 

239 

—  Treaty  of,  313 

—  Surrendered  to  Emmanuel  Phili- 
bert,  253,  255 

—  Margaret  enters,  255 

—  Venetian  ambassador  at,  258 

—  Brantome  visits  Margaret  at,  284, 

285 

—  Emmanuel  Philibert  rebuilds  forti- 
fications of,  286 

—  Margaret's  death  at,  303  ;  burial 
at,  306 

—  Superga  at,  308  n. 

—  University  of,  xxxviii,  140,  287, 
288 

Tyard,  Pontus  de,  HO 

Unton,  Sir  Edward,  327 
Unton,  Sir  Henry,  327 
Usson,  xli,  xlii 

Utenhove,  Jean  de,  scholar  of  Ghent, 
117,  118 

Vaize,  217 

Val  d'Aosta,  149 

Valence,  University  of,  140 

—  Margaret  visits,  219 
Valenciennes,  67 
Valentino,  Margaret  at,  230 
Valentinois,  Diane's  duchy  of,  87 
Vallery,  chateau  of  Saint-Andre  at, 

213 
Valois,  Duke  of.    See  Francis  I. 

—  House  of,  xxxi,  65,  174,  175, 
225,  2S0 


37o 


Index 


Valois,  kings,  84 

Valromey,  1S7 

Varennes,  217 

Vaucelles,  Truce  of,   100,  163,   168, 

169  and  n. 
Vaudois.     See  Waldenses. 
Vauluisant,  Abbey  of,  85 
Vendome,  Duke  of,  56,  57,  60 

—  Antoine  de,  57,  65,  So,  89,  94, 
105,  106,  272,  273 

Venice,  291,  292 

Vercelli,  187,  229,  237,  289,  292 

—  Margaret  at,  in  1560,   1561,   230 
and  n.,  231-6 

—  the   capital   of  Emmanuel   Phili- 
bert  (1559-62),  254-5 

—  Margaret    receives    a   deputation 
of  Waldenses  at,  266 

Verrieres,  Abbey  of,  24 

Versailles,  3,  247 

Vesalius,    anatomist,    201    and    n.2, 

202 
Victor  Emmanuel  II,  vi,  315 
Vieilleville,    Mhnoires,    by    Vincent 

Carloix,  127,  164,  164 
Vienna,  291 
Vienne,  219 


Viennois,  219 

Vignay,  L'Hospital's  nurse  at,  280 
Villars,  le  Comte  de,  165,  239  and  n.2 
—  Boyvin    du,    Brissac's    secretary, 

249  n. 
Villefranche,  descentof  Occhiali  upon, 

221,  223 
Villepreux,  Francis  I  at,  70 
Villers-Cotterets,  185,211 
Virgil,  Margaret  reads  the  works  of, 

38 
Vitry,    L'Hospital's   country    house, 

122  n.s 
Vosges,  Place  des,  127 

Waldenses,   259-62,  264,  265,    267, 

268 
Westminster,  Abbey  of,  328,  331 
Whitehall,  Palace  of,  329 
Woodstock,  167 
Wotton,  Dr.  Nicholas,  176,  335,  336 

Xante,  I.  of,  201  n.2 

Yolande,  Duchess  of  Savoy,  156 

Zuichen,  Ulrich  Viglius  de,  176 


371 


TiP  TICE 

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LIVING    MASTERS    OF    MUSIC. 

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A      CATALOGUE    OF 

MEMOIRS,  <BIOG%ATHIES,  ETC. 

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youngest  daughter,  the  father  and  sister  of  Lord  Nelson.  The  Rector  was  evidently 
a  man  of  broad  views  and  sympathies,  for  we  find  him  maintaining  friendly  relations 
with  his  son  and  daughter-in-law  after  their  separation.  What  is  even  more  strange, 
he  felt  perfectly  at  liberty  to  go  direct  from  the  house  of  Mrs.  Horatio  Nelson  in  Nor- 
folk to  that  of  Sir.  William  and  Lady  Hamilton  in  London,  where  his  son  was  staying. 
Tht's  book  shows  how  complerely  and  without  reserve  the  family  received  Lady 
Hamilton. 

A  QUEEN  OF  SHREDS  AND  PATCHES  :  The 

Life  of  Madame  Tallien  Notre  Dame  de  Thermidor.  From  the 
last  days  of  the  French  Revolution,  until  her  death  as  Princess 
Chimay  in  1835.  By  L.  Gastine.  Translated  from  the  French 
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MEMOIRS,  BIOGRAPHIES,  Etc.  5 

SOPHIE   DAWES,  QUEEN   OF  CHANTILLY. 

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*#*Among  the  many  queens  of  France,  queens  by  right  of  marriage  with  the  reigning 
sovereign,  queens  of  beauty  or  of  intrigue,  the  name  of  Sophie  Dawes,  the  daughter 
of  humble  fisherfolk  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  better  known  as  "the  notorious  Mme.  de 
Feucheres,"  "The  Queen  of  Chantilly"  and  "The  Montespan  de  Saint  Leu"  in  the  land 
which  she  chose  as  a  suitable  sphere  in  which  to  excercise  her  talents  for  money- 
making  and  for  getting  on  in  the  world,  stand  forth  as  a  proof  of  what  a  women's  will 
can  accomplish  when  that  will  is  accompanied  with  an  uncommon  share  of  intelligence. 

MARGARET     OF     FRANCE     DUCHESS     OF 

SAVOY.  1 523-1  574.  A  Biography  with  Photogravure  Frontis- 
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***  A  time  when  the  Italians  are  celebrating  the  Jubliee  ot  the  Italian  Kingdom 
is  perhaps  no  unfitting  moment  in  which  to  glance  back  over  the  annals  of  that  royal 
House  of  Savoy  which  has  rendered  Italian  unity  possible.  Margaret  of  France  may 
without  exaggeration  be  counted  among  the  builders  of  modern  Italv.  She  married 
Emanuel  Philibert,  the  founder  of  Savoyard  greatness:  and  from  the  day  of  her 
marriage  until  the  day  of  her  death  she  laboured  to  advance  the  interests  of  her 
adopted  land. 

MADAME    DE     BRINVILLIERS    AND     HER 

TIMES.  1630-1676.  By  Hugh  Stokes.  With  a  Photogravure 
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*#*  The  name  of  Marie  Marguerite  d' Aubray,  Marquise  de  Brinvilliers,  is  famous 
is  famous  in  the  annals  of  crime,  but  the  true  history  of  her  career  is  little  known.  A 
woman  of  birth  and  rank,  she  was  also  a  remorseless  poisoner,  and  her  trial  was  one 
of  the  most  sensational  episodes  of  the  early  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  The  author  was 
attracted  to  this  curious  subject  by  Charles  fe  Brun's  realistic  sketch  of  the  unhappy 
Marquise  as  she  appeared  on  her  way  to  execution.  This  chief  doeuvre  of  misery  and 
agony  forms  the  frontispiece  to  the  volume,  and  strikes  a  fitting  keynote  to  an 
absorbing  story  of  human  passion  and  wrong-doing. 

THE  VICISSITUDES  OF  A  LADY-IN-WAITING. 

1735-1821.  By  Eugene  Welvert.  Translated  from  the  French 
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other  Illustrations.      Demy  8vo.      (9  X  5  J  inches.)      12s.6d.net. 

*m*  The  Duchesse  de  Narbonne-Lara  was  Lady-in-Waiting  to  Madame  Adelaide, 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Louis  XV.  Around  the  stately  figure  of  this  Princess  are 
gathered  the  most  remarkable  characters  of  the  days  of  the  Old  Regime,  the 
Revolution  and  the  fist  Empire.  The  great  charm  of  the  work  is  that  it  takes  us  over  so 
much  and  varied  ground.  Here,  in  the  gay  crowd  of  ladies  and  courtiers,  in  the  rustle 
of  flowery  silken  paniers,  in  the  clatter  of  high-heeled  shoes,  move  the  figures  of 
Louis  XV,  Louis  XVI. ,  Du  Barri  and  Marie-Antoinette.  We  catch  picturesque 
glimpses  of  the  great  wits,  diplomatists  and  soldiers  of  the  time,  until,  finally  we 
encounter  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 


A   CATALOGUE  OF 


ANNALS  OF  A   YORKSHIRE    HOUSE.     From 

the  Papers  of  a  Macaroni  and  his  Kindred.  By  A.  M.W.  Stirling, 
author  of  "Coke  of  Norfolk  and  his  Friends."  With  33 
Illustrations,  including  3  in  Colour  and  3  in  Photogravure. 
Demy  8vo.     (9X5I  inches.)     2  vols.      32s.  net. 

MINIATURES  :     A    Series    of    Reproductions    in 

Photogravure  of  Eighty-Five  Miniatures  of  Distinguished  Personages, 
including  Queen  Alexandra,  the  Queen  of  Norway,  the  Princess 
Royal,  and  the  Princess  Victoria.  Painted  by  Charles  Turrell. 
(Folio.)  The  Edition  is  limited  to  One  Hundred  Copies  for  sale 
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THE     LAST    JOURNALS    OF    HORACE 

WALPOLE.  During  the  Reign  of  George  III.  from  1 771-1783. 
With  Notes  by  Dr.  Doran.  Edited  with  an  Introduction  by  A. 
Francis  Steuart,  and  containing  numerous  Portraits  reproduced 
from  contemporary  Pictures,  Engravings,  etc.  2  vols.  Demy  8vo. 
(9X5!  inches.)      25s.  net. 

THE    WAR    IN     WEXFORD.       By  H.    F.    B. 

Wheeler  and  A.  M.  Broadley.  An  Account  of  The  Rebellion 
in  South  of  Ireland  in  1798,  told  from  Original  Documents. 
With  numerous  Reproductions  of  contemporary  Portraits  and 
Engravings.     Demy  8vo.     (9X5I  inches.)      12s.  6d.  net. 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  GUY  DE  MAUPASSANT. 

by  His  Valet  Francois.  Translated  from  the  French  by  Maurice 
Reynold.     Demy  8vo.     (9X5I  inches.)     7s.  6d.  net. 

FAMOUS   AMERICANS    IN    PARIS.      By   John 

Joseph  Conway,  M.A.  With  32  Full-page  Illustrations.  Demy 
8vo.      (9X5|  inches.)      10s.  6d.  net. 

LIFE  AND   MEMOIRS  OF  JOHN  CHURTON 

COLLINS.  Written  and  Compiled  by  his  son,  L.  C.  Collins. 
Demy  8vo.     (9X5I  inches.)     7s.  6d.  net. 


MEMOIRS   BIOGRAPHIES,    Etc.  7 

THE  WIFE  OF  GENERAL  BONAPARTE.     By 

Joseph  Turquan.     Author  of  "The  Love  Affairs  of  Napoleon," 

etc.     Translated  from  the  French  by  Miss  Violette  Montagu. 

With  a  Photogravure    Frontispiece    and    1 6    other    Illustrations. 

Demy  8vo.      (9X5I  inches.)      12s.  6d.  net. 

***  Although  much  has  been  written  concerning  the  Empress  Josephine,  we 
know  comparatively  little  about  the  veuve  Beauharnais  and  the  ciloyenne  Bonaparte, 
whose  inconsiderate  conduct  during  her  husband's  absence  caused  him  so  much 
anguish.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  consider  Josephine  as  the  innocent  victim  of  a  cold 
and  calculating  tyrant  who  allowed  nothing,  neither  human  lives  nor  natural  affections, 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  all-conquering  will,  that  this  volume  will  come  to  us  rather 
as  a  surprise.  Modern  historians  are  over-fond  of  blaming  Napoleon  for  having 
divorced  the  companion  of  his  early  years  ;  but  after  having  read  the  above  work,  the 
reader  will  be  constrained  to  admire  General  Bonaparte's  forbearance  and  will  wonder 
how  he  ever  came  to  allow  her  to  play  the  Queen  at  the  Tuileries. 

A  SISTER  OF  PRINCE  RUPERT.  ELIZABETH 
PRINCESS  PALATINE,  ABBESS  OF  HERFORD.  By 
Elizabeth  Godfrey.  With  numerous  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo. 
(9X5!  inches.)      12s.  6d.  net. 

AUGUSTUS  SAINT  GAUDENS  :  an  Appreciation. 

By  C.  Lewis  Hind.  Illustrated  with  47  full-page  Reproductions 
from  his  most  famous  works.  With  a  portrait  of  Keynon  Cox. 
Large  41.0.      12s.  6d.  net. 

JOHNLOTHROP  MOTLEY  AND  HIS  FAMILY: 

By  Mrs.  Herbert  St.  John  Mildmay.  Further  Letters  and 
Records,  edited  by  his  Daughter  and  Herbert  St.  John  Mildmay, 
with  numerous  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  (9X5I  inches.) 
1 6s.  net. 

SIMON  BOLIVAR  :  El  Libertador.     A  Life  of  the 

Leader  of  the  Venezuelan  Revolt  against  Spain.  By  F.  Loraine 
Petre.  With  a  Map  and  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  (9X5I 
inches.)      12s.  6d.  net. 

A  LIFE  OF  SIR  JOSEPH  BANKS,  PRESIDENT 

OF    THE    ROYAL    SOCIETY  :  With    Some    Notices  of   His 

Friends  and  Contemporaries.   By  Edward  Smith,  F.R.H.S.,  Author 

of  "William  Cobbett  :    a    Biography,"    England    and  America 

after  the  Independence,"  etc.      With  a  Portrait  in   Photogravure 

and    16    other    Illustration.       Demy    8    vo.       (9  X  s|    inches.) 

12s.  6d.  net. 

%*  "The  greatest  living  Englishman"  was  the  tribute  of  his  Continental 
contemporaries  to  Sir.  Joseph  Banks.  The  author  ol  his  "Life"  has,  with  some 
enthusiasm,  sketched  the  record  of  a  man  who  for  a  period  of  half  a  century  filled  a 
very  prominent  place  in  society,  but  whose  name  is  almost  forgotten  by  the  present 
generation. 


8  A  CATALOGUE  OF 

NAPOLEON  &  THE  INVASION  OF  ENGLAND  : 

The  Story  of  the  Great  Terror,  1 797-1 805.  By  H.  F.  B. 
Wheeler  and  A.  M.  Broadley.  With  upwards  of  100  Full- 
page  Illustrations  reproduced  from  Contemporary  Portraits,  Prints, 
etc.  ;  eight  in  Colour.  2  Volumes.  Demy  8vo.  (9X5I  inches.) 
32s.  net. 

Outlook. — "The  book  is  not  merely  one  to  be  ordered  from  the  library ;  it  should  be 
purchased,  kept  on  an  accessible  shelf,  and  constantly  studied  by  all  Englishmen 
who  love  England." 

DUMOURIEZ     AND     THE     DEFENCE     OF 

ENGLAND  AGAINST  NAPOLEON.  By  J.  Holland 
Rose,  Litt.D.  (Cantab.),  Author  of  "The  Life  of  Napoleon," 
and  A.  M.  Broadley,  joint-author  of  "  Napoleon  and  the  Invasion 
of  England."  Illustrated  with  numerous  Portraits,  Maps,  and 
Facsimiles.     Demy  8vo.     (9  x  5f  inches.)     21s.  net. 

THE     FALL     OF      NAPOLEON.        By     Oscar 

Browning,  m. a.,  Author  of"  The  Boyhood  and  Youth  of  Napoleon." 
With  numerous  Full-page  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo  (9X5I  inches). 
1 2s.  6d.  net. 

Spectator.— "Without  doubt  Mr.  Oscar  Browning  has  produced  a  book  which  should 
have  its  place  in  any  library  of  Napoleonic  literature." 

Truth. — "Mr.  Oscar  Browning  has  made  not  the  least,  but  the  most  of  the  romantic 
material  at  his  command  for  the  story  of  the  fall  of  the  greatest  figure  in  history." 

THE  BOYHOOD  &  YOUTH  OF  NAPOLEON, 

1 769- 1 793.  Some  Chapters  on  the  early  life  of  Bonaparte. 
By  Oscar  Browning,  m.a.  With  numerous  Illustrations,  Por- 
traits etc.      Crown  8vo.      5s.  net. 

Daily  News.— "Mr.  Browning  has  with  patience,  labour,  careful  study,  and  excellent 
taste  given  us  a  very  valuable  work,  which  will  add  materially  to  the  literature  on 
this  most  fascinating  ot  human  personalities. 

THE    LOVE    AFFAIRS  OF    NAPOLEON.     By 

Joseph  Turquan.     Translated  from  the  French  by  James  L.  May. 
With    32    Full-page   Illustrations.       Demy  8vo.  (9X5I  inches). 

1  2s.  6d.  net. 

THE  DUKE  OF  REICHSTADT(NAPOLEON  II.) 

By  Edward  de  Wertheimer.  Translated  from  the  German. 
With    numerous    Illustrations.        Demy    8vo.       (9X5!    inches.) 

2  is.  net.      (Second  Edition.) 

Times. — "A  most  careful  and  interesting  work  which  presents  the  first  complete  and 
authoritative  account  of  this  unfortunate  Prince." 

Westminster  Gazette. — "This  book,  admirably  produced,  reinforced  by  many 
additional  portraits,  is  a  solid  contribution  to  history  and  a  monument  of  patient, 
well-applied  research." 


MEMOIRS,  BIOGRAPHIES,  Etc.  9 

NAPOLEON'S  CONQUEST  OF  PRUSSIA,  1806. 

■  By  F.  Loraine  Petre.  With  an  Introduction  by  Field- 
Marshal  Earl  Roberts,  V.C.,  K.G.,  etc.  With  Maps,  Battle 
Plans,  Portraits,  and  16  Full-page  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo. 
(9  x  5 1  inches).        12s.  6d.  net. 

Scotsman. — "Neither  too  concise,  nor  too  diffuse,  the  book  is  eminently  readable.  It 
is  the  best  work  in  English  on  a  somewhat  circumscribed  subject." 

Outlook. — "Mr.  Petre  has  visited  the  battlefields  and  read  everthing,  and  his 
monograph  is  a  model  of  what  military  history,  handled  with  enthusiasm  and 
literary  ability,  can  be." 


NAPOLEON'S  CAMPAIGN  IN  POLAND,  1806- 

1807.  A  Military  History  of  Napoleon's  First  War  with  Russia, 
verified  from  unpublished  official  documents.  By  F.  Loraine 
Petre.  With  1 6  Full-page  Illustrations,  Maps,  and  Plans.  New 
Edition.      Demy  8vo.  (9x5!  inches).      12s.  6d.  net. 

Army  and  Navy  Chronicle. — "We  welcome  a  second  edition  of  this  valuable  work.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Loraine  Petre  is  an  authority  on  the  wars  of  the  great  Napoleon,  and  has 
brought  the  greatest  care  and  energy  into  his  studies  of  the  subject.'' 


NAPOLEON     AND     THE     ARCHDUKE 

CHARLES.  A  History  of  the  Franco-Austrian  Campaign  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Danube  in  1809.  By  F.  Loraine  Petre. 
With  8  Illustrations  and  6  sheets  of  Maps  and  Plans.  Demy  8vo. 
(9X5I  inches).      12s.  6d.  net. 

RALPH  HEATHCOTE.     Letters  of  a  Diplomatist 

During  the  Time  of  Napoleon,  Giving  an  Account  of  the  Dispute 
between  the  Emperor  and  the  Elector  of  Hesse.  By  Countess 
Gunther  Groben.  With  Numerous  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo. 
(9X5I  inches).      12s.  6 d.  net. 

MEMOIRS   OF  THE  COUNT   DE   CARTRIE. 

A  record  of  the  extraordinary  events  in  the  life  of  a  French 
Royalist  during  the  war  in  La  Vendee,  and  of  his  flight  to  South- 
ampton, where  he  followed  the  humble  occupation  of  gardener. 
With  an  introduction  by  Frederic  Masson,  Appendices  and  Notes 
by  Pierre  Amedee  Pichot,  and  other  hands,  and  numerous  Illustra- 
tions, including  a  Photogravure  Portrait  of  the  Author.  Demy  8vo. 
(9x55  inches.)      12s.  6d.  net. 

Daily  News.— "We  have  seldom  met  with  a  human  document  which  has  interested  us 
so  much." 


io  A  CATALOGUE  OF 

THE  JOURNAL  OF  JOHN  MAYNE  DURING 

A  TOUR  ON  THE  CONTINENT  UPON  ITS  RE- 
OPENING AFTER  THE  FALL  OF  NAPOLEON,  1814. 
Edited  by  his  Grandson,  John  Mayne  Colles.  With  16 
Illustrations.     Demy  8vo  (9  X  5f  inches).      12s.  6d.  net. 

WOMEN    OF   THE    SECOND    EMPIRE. 

Chronicles  of  the  Court  of  Napoleon  III.  By  Frederic  Loliee. 
With  an  introduction  by  Richard  Whiteing,  and  53  full-page 
Illustrations,  3  in  Photogravure.  Demy  8vo.  (9X5I  inches.) 
2is.  net. 

Standard. — "M.  Frederic  Loliee  has  written  a  remarkable  book,  vivid  and  pitiless  in 
its  description  of  the  intrigue  and  dare-devil  spirit  which  flourished  unchecked  at 
the  French  Court.  .  .  .  Mr.  Richard  Whiteing's  introduction  is  written  with 
restraint  and  dignity. 

MEMOIRS    OF    MADEMOISELLE    DES 

ECHEROLLES.  Translated  from  the  French  by  Marie 
Clothilde  Balfour.  With  an  introduction  by  G.  K.  Fortescue, 
Portraits,  etc.      5s.  net. 

Liverpool  Mercury.—".  .  .  this  absorbing  book.  .  .  .  The  work  has  a  very 
decided  historical  value.  The  translation  is  excellent,  and  quite  notable  in  the 
preservation  of  idiom. 

GIOVANNI   BOCCACCIO  :    A  BIOGRAPHICAL 

STUDY.  By  Edward  Hutton.  With  a  Photogravure  Frontis- 
piece and  numerous  other  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  (9X5I 
inches)  16s.  net. 

THE  LIFE  OF  PETER  ILICH  TCHAIKOVSKY 

(1840- 1 893).  By  his  Brother,  Modeste  Tchaikovsky.  Edited 
and  abridged  from  the  Russian  and  German  Editions  by  Rosa 
Newmarch.  With  Numerous  Illustrations  and  Facsimiles  and  an 
Introduction  by  the  Editor.  Demy  8vo.  (9  x  5!  inches.) 
7s.  6d.  net.      Second  edition. 

The  Tunes.— "A  most  illuminating  commentary  on  Tchaikovsky's  music." 

World.— "One  of  the  most  fascinating  self-revelations  by  an  artist  which  has  been 
given  to  the  world.  The  translation  is  excellent,  and  worth  reading  for  its  own 
sake." 

Contemporary  Review.— ''The  book's  appeal  is,  of  course,  primarily  to  the  music-lover  ; 
but  there  is  so  much  of  human  and  literary  interest  in  it,  such  intimate  revelation 
of  a  singularly  interesting  personality,  that  many  who  have  never  come  under  the 
spell  of  the  Pathetic  Symphony  will  be  strongly  attracted  by  what  is  virtually  the 
spiritual  autobiography  of  its  composer.  High  praise  is  due  to  the  translator  and 
editor  for  the  literary  skill  with  which  she  has  prepared  the  English  version  of 
this  fascinating  work.  .  .  There  have  been  few  collections  of  letters  published 
within  recent  years  that  give  so  vivid  a  portrait  of  the  writer  as  that  presented  to 
us  in  these  pages." 


MEMOIRS,  BIOGRAPHIES,  Etc.  i  i 


THE  LIFE    OF    SIR    HALLIDAY    MACART- 

NEY,  K.C.M.G.,  Commander  of  Li  Hung  Chang's  trained 
force  in  the  Taeping  Rebellion,  founder  of  the  first  Chinese 
Arsenal,  Secretary  to  the  first  Chinese  Embassy  to  Europe. 
Secretary  and  Councillor  to  the  Chinese  Legation  in  London  for 
thirty  years.  By  Demetrius  C.  Boulger,  Author  of  the 
"  History  of  China,"  the  "  Life  of  Gordon,"  etc.  With  Illus- 
trations.     Demy  8vo.      (9  x  5f  inches.)     Price  215.  net. 

DEVONSHIRE  CHARACTERS  AND  STRANGE 

EVENTS.  By  S.  Baring-Gould,  m.a.,  Author  of  "  Yorkshire 
Oddities,"  etc.  With  58  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  (9X5I 
inches.)     21s.  net. 

Daily  News. — "A  fascinating  series  .  .  .  the  whole  book  is  rich  in  human  interest. 
It  is  by  personal  touches,  drawn  from  traditions  and  memories,  that  the  dead  men 
surrounded  by  the  curious  panoply  of  their  time,  are  made  to  live  again  in  Mr. 
Baring-Gould's  pages." 

THE    HEART     OF     GAMBETTA.      Translated 

from  the  French  of  Francis  Laur  by  Violette  Montagu. 
With  an  Introduction  by  John  Macdonald,  Portraits  and  other 
Illustrations.      Demy  8vo.     (9  X  5f  inches.)      7s.6fZ.net. 

Daily  Telegraph. — "It  is  Gambetta  pouring  out  his  soul  to  Leonie  Leon,  the  strange, 
passionate,  masterful  demagogue,  who  wielded  the  most  persuasive  oratory  of 
modern  times,  acknowledging  his  idol,  his  inspiration,  his  Egeria." 

THE  LIFE  OF  JOAN  OF  ARC.       By   Anatole 

France.  A  Translation  by  Winifred  Stephens.  With  8  Illus- 
trations.    Demy  8vo  (9X5I  inches).      2  vols.     Price  25s.  net. 

THE    DAUGHTER    OF    LOUIS  XVI.      Marie- 

Therese-Charlotte  of  France,  Duchesse  D'Angouleme.  By  G. 
Lenotre.  With  13  Full-page  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  (9x5! 
inches.)     Price  10s.  6d.  net. 

WITS,   BEAUX,    AND    BEAUTIES    OF    THE 

GEORGIAN  ERA.  By  John  Fyvie,  author  of  "  Some  Famous 
Women  of  Wit  and  Beauty,"  "  Comedy  Queens  of  the  Georgian 
Era,"  etc.  With  a  Photogravure  Portrait  aud  numerous  other 
Illustrations.      Demy  8vo  (9X5I  inches).      12s.  6d.  net. 

MADAME   DE    MAINTENON  :     Her   Life   and 

Times,  1 65  5- 1 7 19.  By  C.  C.  Dyson.  With  1  Photogravure 
Plate  and  16  other  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo.  (9  X  5f  inches). 
12s.  6d.  net. 


i2  A   CATALOGUE    OF 

DR.    JOHNSON    AND    MRS.    THRALE.      By 

A.  M.  Broadley.  With  an  Introductory  Chapter  by  Thomas 
Seccombe.  With  24  Illustrations  from  rare  originals,  including 
a  reproduction  in  colours  of  the  Fellowes  Miniature  of  Mrs. 
Piozzi  by  Roche,  and  a  Photogravure  of  Harding's  sepia  drawing 
of  Dr.  Johnson.       Demy  8vo  (9  X  5f  inches).      16s.  net. 

THE    DAYS     OF     THE    DIRECTOIRE.      By 

Alfred  Allinson,  M.A.  With  48  Full-page  Illustrations, 
including  many  illustrating  the  dress  of  the  time.  Demy  8vo 
(9  X  5 1  inches).      1 6s.  net. 

HUBERT  AND  JOHN  VAN  EYCK  :  Their  Life 

and  Work.  By  W.  H.  James  Weale.  With  41  Photogravure 
and  95  Black  and  White  Reproductions.      Royal  4to.   £5  5s.  net. 

Sir  Martin  Conway's  Note. 
Nearly  half  a  century  has  passed  since  Mr.  W.  H.  James  Weale,  then  resident  at 
Bruges,  began  that  long  series  of  patient  investigations  into  the  history  of 
Netherlandish  art  which  was  destined  to  earn  so  rich  a  harvest.  When  he  began 
work  Memlinc  was  still  called  Hemling,  and  was  fabled  to  have  arrived  at  Bruges 
as  a  wounded  soldier.  The  van  Eycks  were  little  more  than  legendary  heroes. 
Roger  Van  der  Weyden  was  little  more  than  a  name.  Most  of  the  other  great 
Netherlandish  artists  were  either  wholly  forgotten  or  named  only  in  connection 
with  paintings  with  which  they  had  nothing  to  do.  Mr.  Weale  discovered  Gerard 
David,  and  disentangled  his  principal  works  from  Memlinc's,  with  which  they  were 
then  confused. 

VINCENZO  FOPPA   OF  BRESCIA,  Founder  of 

The  Lombard  School,  His  Life  and  Work.  By  Constance 
Jocelyn  Ffoulkes  and  Monsignor  Rodolfo  Majocchi,  d.d., 
Rector  of  the  Collegio  Borromeo,  Pavia.  Based  on  research  in  the 
Archives  of  Milan,  Pavia,  Brescia,  and  Genoa  and  on  the  study 
of  all  his  known  works.  With  over  100  Illustrations,  many  in 
Photogravure,  and  100  Documents.     Royal  4to.     ^5  5s.  od.  net. 

MEMOIRS    OF    THE    DUKES   OF    URBINO. 

Illustrating  the  Arms,  Art  and  Literature  of  Italy  from  1440  to 
1630.  By  James  Dennistoun  of  Dennistoun.  A  New  Edition 
edited  by  Edward  Hutton,  with  upwards  of  100  Illustrations. 
Demy  Svo.     (9  x  5|  inches.)     3  vols.     42s.net. 

THE  DIARY  OF  A  LADY-IN-WAITING.      By 

Lady  Charlotte  Bury.  Being  the  Diary  Illustrative  of  the 
Times  of  George  the  Fourth.  Interspersed  with  original  Letters 
from  the  late  Queen  Caroline  and  from  various  other  distinguished 
persons  New  edition.  Edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by  A. 
Francis  Steuart.  With  numerous  portraits.  Two  Vols. 
Demy  8vo.     (9  x  5f  inches.)     21s.net. 


MEMOIRS,   BIOGRAPHIES,   Etc.  13 

THE  LAST   JOURNALS  OF   HORACE  WAL- 

POLE.  During  the  Reign  of  George  III  from  1771  to  1783. 
With  Notes  by  Dr.  Doran.  Edited  with  an  Introduction  by 
A.  Francis  Steuart,  and  containing  numerous  Portraits  (2  in 
Photogravure)  reproduced  from  contemporary  Pictures,  Engravings, 
etc.  2  vols.  Uniform  with  "  The  Diary  of  a  Lady-in- Waiting." 
Demy  8vo.      (9  x   5 finches).      25s.net. 

JUNIPER  HALL  :  Rendezvous  of  certain  illus- 
trious Personages  during  the  French  Revolution,  including  Alex- 
ander D'Arblay  and  Fanny  Burney.  Compiled  by  Constance 
Hill.  With  numerous  Illustrations  by  Ellen  G.  Hill,  and  repro- 
ductions from  various  Contemporary  Portraits.   Crown  8vo.    5s.net. 

JANE  AUSTEN  :    Her    Homes   and    Her  Friends. 

By  Constance  Hill.  Numerous  Illustrations  by  Ellen  G.  Hill, 
together  with  Reproductions  from  Old  Portraits,etc.  Cr.  8v05s.net. 

THE    HOUSE    IN    ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET. 

Being  Chronicles  of  the  Burney  Family.  By  Constance  Hill, 
Author  of  "  Jane  Austen,  Her  Home,  and  Her  Friends,"  "  Juniper 
Hall,"  etc.  With  numerous  Illustrations  by  Ellen  G.  Hill,  and 
reproductions  of  Contemporary  Portraits,  etc.   Demy  8vo.   21s.net. 

STORY  OF  THE  PRINCESS  DES  URSINS  IN 

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NEW  LETTERS  AND  MEMORIALS  OF  JANE 

WELSH  CARLYLE.  A  Collection  of  hitherto  Unpublished 
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THE     KING'S     GENERAL    IN    THE    WEST, 

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1 6  MEMOIRS,    BIOGRAPHIES,    Etc. 


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